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THE 


ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR 


IN 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES, 


BY   WM.   6,   SEWELL. 


NEW    YORK: 

HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

FRANKLIN     8QUAEB. 
1861. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  one  thousand  eight  hundred 
and  sixty-one,  by 

HARPER   &   BROTHERS, 

In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Southern  District  of  New  York. 


THIS    WORK, 


RESULTS  OF  EMANCIPATION  IN  THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES, 


WITH  THE  TRUE  REGARDS  OF  THE  AUTHOR, 

TO 

His  EXCELLENCY,  FRANCIS  HINCKS,  ESQTJIRE, 

GOVEBNOB-IN-CHIEF  OF  THE  WKJDWAED  ISLAXDS. 


PREFACE, 


LETTERS  on  FREE  LABOR  IN  THE  BRITISH  WEST 
INDIES,  originally  written  for  the  NEW  YORK  TIMES, 
and,  since  their  publication  in  that  journal,  revised 
and  enlarged,  make  up  the  volume  now  offered  to  the 
public.  It  is  not  designed,  in  this  work,  to  draw 
from  the  results  of  British  Emancipation  any  infer 
ence  or  to  point  any  conclusion  favorable  or  unfavor 
able  to  slave  labor  in  the  United  States ;  and  for  the 
reason  that  a  great  territorial  disparity  between  the 
islands  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  southern  section  of 
the  Union  on  the  other,  forbids  even  a  comparison  of 
their  social  and  political  institutions.  The  writer's 
aim  has  been  to  give,  as  free  from  comment  as  possi 
ble,  such  statistical  and  other  information  concerning 
the  "West  Indian  populations,  their  habits  and  cus 
toms,  their  industry,  their  commerce,  and  their  gov 
ernment,  as  he  has  been  able  to  procure  from  reliable 
sources,  or  to  gain  by  personal  observation.  The 
writer  does  not  know  how  far  his  views  on  the  "West 
India  labor  question  coincide  with  those  of  the  gov 
ernor  of  the  Windward  Islands ;  and  it  is,  therefore, 


Vi  PREFACE. 

proper  to  say  that  the  dedication  is  prompted  alto 
gether  by  personal  esteem  for  a  valued  friend,  and  by 
sentiments  of  high  regard  for  a  public  officer  who  has 
successfully  defended  the  West  India  colonies  from 
misrepresentation,  and  whose  liberal  and  impartial 
rule  has  revived  a  confidence  in  "West  India  enter 
prises. 

New  York,  November,  1860. 


CONTENTS. 


THE  WINDWARD  ISLANDS: 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    FIRST   IMPRESSIONS 9 

II.    BARBADOS    AND   ITS    CAPITAL 18 

III.  THE    GOVERNING    CLASSES    OF   BARBADOS 26 

IV.  THE    BLACK    AND    COLORED    POPULATION   OF   BARBADOS  .  39 
V.    EXPERIENCES    OF    FREE    AND    SLAVE    LABOR   IN   BARBA 
DOS 49 

VI.  COMMERCE  AND  PROSPERITY  OF  BARBADOS 59 

VII.  SOCIAL  DISTINCTIONS  IN  BARBADOS 67 

VIII.  ST.  VINCENT  SINCE  EMANCIPATION 75 

IX.  GRENADA  SINCE  EMANCIPATION 84 

X.  TOBAGO  AND  ST.  LUCIA  SINCE  EMANCIPATION 90 

TRINIDAD: 

XI.    CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE    ISLAND 95 

XII.    THE   CREOLES   OF   AFRICAN   DESCENT 105 

\f             XIII     THE    SCHEME   OF   ASIATIC    IMMIGRATION 117 

XIV.    CULTIVATION   AND   COMMERCE 135 

THE  LEEWARD  ISLANDS: 

XV.    PROSPERITY   OF   ANTIGUA 141 

XVI.    WANT  OF   LABOR   IN   ANTIGUA 152 

XVII.    THE   MINOR   COLONIES 161 

JAMAICA: 

XVIII.    TIMES   PAST   AND  TIMES   PRESENT 169 

XIX.    A   TOUR   THROUGH   THE   INTERIOR 180 

XX.    A  TOUR  CONTINUED 192 

XXI.    A  TOUR   CONTINUED 204 

XXII.    A   TOUR   CONTINUED 215 

XXIII.  THE    OLD   PLANTOCRACY 230 

XXIV.  THE   MIDDLE   AND  LABORING   CLASSES 244 

XXV.    FREE    AND    SLAVE   LABOR 260 

XXVI.    WANT   OF   LABOR 277 

XXVII.    NECESSITY   FOR   IMMIGRATION 292 

XXVIII     RESUME...                                                                                                           ..  310 


THE 


ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR 

IN   THE 

BRITISH  WEST   INDIES, 


THE  WINDWARD  ISLANDS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

FIRST  IMPRESSIONS. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1 859. 

No  greater  contrast  could  possibly  be  imagined 
than  that  between  New  York  in  the  month  of  Janu 
ary  and  this  beautiful  Barbados.  The  one,  as  I  left 
it  in  the  middle  of  a  cold  snap,  like  some  mighty  floe 
in  the  Arctic  Ocean,  frigid  and  repulsive ;  the  other, 
as  I  approached  it,  like  an  emerald  gem,  curiously 
and  exquisitely  set  in  a  sea  of  the  deepest  blue,  glow 
ing  with  summer  beauties  most  alluring. 

The  cry  of  "Land  ho!"  was  not  more  welcome  to 
the  Portuguese  discoverers  of  Barbados,  about  three 
centuries  ago,  than  it  was  to  me — passenger  in  a  ves 
sel  familiarly  known  as  a  "horse-jockey."  Let  me 
describe  the  article  for  the  benefit  of  all  wanderers 
from  Yankeedom  who  seek  among  these  islands 
health  or  recreation  during  the  winter  months.  I  am 
A  2 


10       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

informed,  and  the  information  has  every  appearance 
of  truth,  that  the  Barbadians  use  up  their  horses  much 
more  effectually  and  much  more  rapidly  than  Broad 
way  omnibus-drivers,  and  that  the  trade  in  this  do 
mestic  animal,  carried  on  exclusively  between  the 
United  States  and  the  island,  is  large  and  profitable 
to  all  parties  concerned.  The  Flying  Jack,  for  exam 
ple,  leaves  New  York  with  a  deck-load  of  threescore 
horses.  When  in  the  latitude  of  Bermuda  a  stiff  breeze 
is  felt  from  the  far-famed  oqion-tops — perhaps,  as  hap 
pened  to  our  bark,  a  violent  head-wind  for  a  week, 
making  the  little  vessel  rock  and  reel  as  she  strug 
gled  on  under  double-reefed  topsails.  The  unfortu 
nate  quadruped  passengers — from  whom  the  unfortu 
nate  biped  passengers  are  only  separated  by  a  wood 
en  partition — can  not  be  said  to  enjoy  the  motion  of 
the  ship.  They  are  tied  by  the  head,  so  that  they  are 
unable  to  lie  down ;  but,  their  legs  being  free,  they 
kick  up  a  devil's  delight  during  the  storm,  and  sharp 
en  the  sensations  of  their  sea-sick  neighbors.  They 
snort,  and  neigh,  and  groan  with  terror,  as  each  suc 
ceeding  wave  sweeps  over  them;  they  trample  the 
deck  as  though  they  would  tear  it  into  a  thousand 
pieces.  All  this  noise  and  the  confusion  attendant 
thereon,  the  cries  of  Jack,  as,  in  his  vernacular,  he 
vainly  roars  out  "  Steady,"  or  calls  to  his  companion 
on  the  watch  to  "  haul  taut  the  main-brace"  of  this  or 
that  animal ;  the  confusion  worse  confounded  when  a 
horse  tumbles  down,  and,  as  he  hangs  suspended  by 
his  head,  all  hands  are  summoned  to  his  assistance ; 
the  rolling  of  the  ship,  the  roaring  of  the  tempest,  and 
the  occasional  wash  of  a  wave  down  the  cabin  stairs, 
are  a  combination  of  unpleasant  circumstances  which 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  11 

a  sane  man  would  naturally  wish  to  avoid.  The  evils 
may  be  met  singly,  but  concurrent  they  are  over 
whelming.  Imagine  a  man  of  sense  selecting  a  stable 
as  a  sleeping  apartment,  and  having  his  victuals  cook 
ed  at  the  other  end  of  the  same  room!  Nor  is  this  all 
the  inconvenience.  When  the  tropical  region  is  ap 
proached  the  heat  becomes  oppressive,  and,  as  in  our 
case,  the  distemper  sometimes  breaks  out  among  the 
animals.  The  excitement  of  a  day  at  sea  is  then  va 
ried  by  the  death  on  an  average  of  two  horse  passen 
gers  per  diem ;  and  as  our  skipper,  faithful  to  the 
owner's  interest,  would  not  consign  them  to  the  deep 
until  after  they  had  given  their  last  kick  and  a  look 
ing-glass  had  been  held  to  their  noses,  we  were  often 
spectators  of  a  prolonged  death-scene.  Poor  brutes ! 
They  made  no  confessions.  The  insurance  companies 
will  not  guarantee  their  lives ;  but  the  risk  of  import 
ing  horses  from  America  being  readily  accepted  by 
speculators,  it  follows  that  the  trade  is  a  profitable 
one.  The  survivors,  diseased  and  wounded,  are  gen 
erally  all  sold  twenty -four  hours  after  their  arrival,  at 
an  advance  on  New  York  prices  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty  to  two  hundred  per  cent.  Many  Americans  visit 
this  island,  and  are  compelled  to  take  passage  in  sail 
ing-ships,  and  they  would  do  well  to  learn  before  they 
embark  whether  their  vessel  is  a  "horse-jockey." 

Cheerily,  then,  most  cheerily,  sounded  the  cry  of 
"Land  ho!'7  It  was  a  misty  day — not  such  a  mist  as 
beclouds  a  northern  sky,  but  a  light,  fleecy,  vapory, 
refreshing  mist,  that  sufficed  to  dampen  the  fiery  ardor 
of  the  sun.  We  approached  the  Barbadian  shore  with 
in  fifteen  miles,  and  could  only  then  discern  the  loom 
of  the  land.  It  seemed  much  higher  than  geograph- 


12       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ical  authorities  allow.  We  were  within  a  mile  of  the 
coast  before  it  became  distinctly  visible.  Suddenly 
the  sun  burst  through  the  mist,  like  magic  dispelled 
every  cloud,  and  revealed  a  picture  of  most  enticing 
beauty.  There  lay  the  island,  bathed  in  the  rich  light 
of  a  tropic  evening.  The  sun,  fast  sinking  in  the  op 
posite  horizon,  was  dripping  with  liquid  gold,  and  its 
rays  penetrated  every  nook  and  corner  of  Barbados, 
from  the  white,  distinctive  line  which  separated  the 
water  from  the  land  up  to  its  highest  elevation.  It 
was  but  a  bank  of  gently-sloping  verdure  as  compared 
with  our  extended  landscape  views ;  but  so  delicious- 
ly  soft,  so  fresh,  so  fair,  so  varied  in  its  minute  scenery 
and  in  the  delicate  tints  of  its  coloring,  that  it  seemed 
more  like  a  piece  of  fairy  mechanism  than  a  famous 
sugar-producing  colony.  The  island,  I  was  told,  was 
parched  for  want  of  rain ;  but  it  looked  to  me  far  oth 
erwise — like  a  New  York  clover-field  in  early  summer, 
variegated  with  green  of  every  possible  hue,  divided 
and  subdivided  into  hill  and  valley,  crowned  with  a 
golden  wreath  by  the  setting  sun,  and  luxuriating  in 
the  blessings  of  an  eternal  spring. 

Bridgetown,  the  capital  of  Barbados,  is  situated  in 
the  Bay  of  Carlisle,  and  is  surrounded  by  an  amphi 
theatre  of  minute  hills,  which  gently  rise  around  and 
beyond  it.  In  this  bay  there  are  generally  at  anchor 
some  fifty  vessels,  many  of  which  are  from  Northern 
ports  in  the  United  States.  The  trade-winds  blow 
continuously  from  the  shore,  and  the  harbor  is  consid 
ered  a  safe  one,  though  in  the  open  sea,  from  any  or 
dinary  storm. 

Directly  a  ship  drops  her  anchor  in  the  Bay  of  Car 
lisle  she  is  surrounded  by  a  swarm  of  boats,  and  color- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  13 

ed  youths  of  from  ten  to  twenty  years  of  age  scramble 
up  her  sides  and  darken  the  deck.  These  are  held  to 
be  the  worst  portion  of  the  negro  population  of  the 
island,  and,  judging  from  actual  investigation,  I  should 
certainly  say  that  almost  all  of  them  were  ready  to  lie 
or  steal,  as  suited  their  convenience.  I  believe  the 
eighth  and  ninth  commandments  are  excluded  from 
their  moral  code.  They  give  a  stranger  a  bad  and 
most  mistaken  impression  of  the  place.  They  are  in 
tolerable  bores,  by  whom  threats  and  entreaties  are 
alike  disregarded.  I  was  going  to  compare  them  to 
New  York  cabmen  at  a  railway  station,  but  I  would 
be  doing  a  gross  injustice  to  that  important  body  of 
our  independent  fellow-citizens.  In  this  class  there 
are  Creoles  of  every  shade  of  color,  from  the  bronzed 
quadroon  to  the  jet-black  negro.  The  negroes,  how 
ever,  predominate.  They  are  sharp,  active,  and  won 
derfully  alive  to  the  importance  of  having  a  passenger 
to  convey  ashore.  Perhaps  a  dozen  boats  will  congre 
gate  where  the  services  of  only  one  will  suffice.  The 
owners  of  the  boats — there  are  usually  four  boys  to 
each — will  throng  the  deck,  or,  climbing  the  rigging, 
will  hang  by  their  legs  from  a  rope  as  they  abuse  each 
other  and  advertise  the  superior  accommodations  they 
have  to  offer.  The  jabber  is  infernal.  It  is  impossi 
ble  for  the  uninitiated  to  comprehend  a  dialect  that 
sounds  more  like  French  patois  than  any  possible  con 
tortion  of  the  English  tongue.  But  English  it  is,  if 
that  can  be  called  English  which  finds  no  place  in 
Johnson  or  in  Webster.  By  the  merest  accident  I 
caught  the  sound  of  an  English  oath;  but  beyond  this, 
I  no  more  understood  the  conversation  than  if  it  had 
been  conducted  in  ancient  Caribbee.  These  watermen 


14       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

were  all  well  and  many  of  them  neatly  dressed,  with 
cotton  shirts  and  trowsers,  straw  hats  or  white  linen 
caps,  and  bare  feet;  they  looked  cleaner,  more  lithe 
and  active,  more  intelligent,  and  more  impudent  than 
any  indiscriminate  body  of  Irish  laborers  that  could 
be  selected  in  an  American  city  or  upon  an  American 
railroad.  The  class  of  which  I  am  speaking  throng 
the  bay  and  the  pier  at  Bridgetown,  and  must  not  be 
taken  as  a  type  of  the  colored  population  of  the  island. 
Their  chances  of  remuneration  are  small,  for  passen 
gers  who  arrive  are  few  in  number,  and,  therefore,  I 
was  the  more  surprised  that  these  proverbially  indo 
lent  people  should  exhibit  so  much  energy  in  the 
prosecution  of  their  business.  The  spirit  of  rivalry 
and  emulation  was  never  more  fully  displayed  than 
by  them,  and  I  was  soon  sensible  that  prejudice  alone 
prevented  me  from  regarding  these  people  as  quite 
equal  in  what  a  Yankee  would  call  smartness  to  youths 
of  their  own  standing  in  any  large  American  or  Euro 
pean  city. 

These  remarks  must  be  received  as  the  first  impres 
sions  of  a  stranger.  To  arrive  at  correct  conclusions 
on  the  free-labor  system  of  the  island  requires  more 
research  than  an  American  would. imagine.  The  peo 
ple  seem  averse  to  statistics,  and  even  the  census  has 
been  neglected  for  several  years  past.  No  statistics, 
such  as  every  village  in  the  United  States  will  possess, 
can  be  obtained  in  Barbados ;  and  I  am  at  a  loss  to 
understand  the  cause  of  such  an  important  omission 
of  duty  on  the  part  of  the  authorities.  The  inference 
of  a  stranger  naturally  is,  that  figures  would  demon 
strate  decay  instead  of  progress ;  but  the  contrary  is 
stoutly  maintained  by  those  who  have  the  best  oppor- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  15 

tunity  of  judging.  In  support  of  their  argument  they 
point  to  facts  which  can  not  be  controverted,  and  which 
are  so  plain  that  he  who  runs  may  read.  Whatever 
may  be  the  consequences  of  emancipation  in  other 
West  India  islands,  they  hold  that,  in  Barbados,  it  has 
been  an  undoubted  success — a  success  established  in 
the  broad  face  of  day,  and  of  which  every  one  who 
seeks  for  truth  may  be  fully  convinced. 

A  stranger  in  Barbados  can  not  fail  to  be  impressed 
at  the  outset  by  the  neatness  and  tidiness  of  the  homes 
of  the  poor.  Humble  as  they  are,  the  very  worst  lo 
cality  that  can  be  selected  in  Bridgetown  is  clean,  and 
offers  a  favorable  contrast  to  a  New  York  Mulberry 
Street.  The  people  are  talkative  and  noisy  after  their 
fashion,  but  they  are  orderly  and  industrious,  without 
any  rowdyism,  righting,  or  open  drunkenness  of  any 
kind  whatsoever.  They  are  most  unquestionably 
above  the  level  of  their  brethren  in  the  United  States. 
I  marveled  much  as  I  saw  them  on  the  Sabbath-day 
dressed  as  respectably  as  any  people  in  the  world, 
and  thronging  their  churches — intelligent,  God-fearing 
citizens,  loyal  to  their  faith,  loyal  to  themselves,  and 
loyal  to  the  government  of  that  great  empire  which 
could  afford  to  pour  out  gold  like  water  and  desolate, 
for  a  time,  some  of  its  fairest  provinces  in  order  to  un 
loose  bonds  which  the  slaves  themselves  scarcely  felt, 
and  from  which  at  first  they  had  no  desire  to  be  re 
leased.  The  moral  grandeur  of  the  act  may  not  be 
questioned.  You  feel  its  force  as  you  mark  the  change 
it  has  wrought  in  the  Barbadian  negro,  and  hear  him 
boast,  with  all  the  pride  and  pomposity  of  a  down-east 
Yankee,  that  he  is  free. 

But  the  elevation  of  the  negro,  if  it  can  be  proved, 


16       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

does  not  embrace  the  whole  argument  of  emancipa 
tion^  for  the  condition  and  prosperity  of  the  white  in 
habitants  of  the  West  India  islands  enter  as  largely 
into  its  merits  as  the  condition  and  prosperity  of  the 
blacks.  Have  the  "West  India  proprietary  been  ruin 
ed  by  that  one  great  grant  of  freedom,  or  did  they 
help  to  bring  down  destruction  on  their  own  heads? 
Widely,  wildly  as  this  subject  has  been  discussed  for 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  it  has  too  often  been  discussed 
from  a  purely  partisan  point  of  view.  There  is  much 
that  is  true  in  West  Indian  history,  and  much  that 
will  sound  novel  to  the  world  still  unrecorded.  I 
dare  not  hope  to  be  able  to  say  one  half  of  what  can 
be  said  or  what  ought  to  be  said,  but  I  do  hope  to  be 
a  faithful  reporter  of  existing  facts  and  realities.  I 
care  not  whither  they  may  lead,  what  they  may  prove 
or  what  they  may  disprove.  I  have  no  cherished  the 
ory  of  my  own  to  demonstrate.  My  only  aim  is,  if 
possible,  to  throw  light  upon  a  subject  never  more  im 
portant  than  at  the  present  time,  but  about  which,  un 
til  I  came  here,  I  knew  nothing  and  could  learn  noth 
ing.  The  people  of  Great  Britain  and  of  the  United 
States,  for  it  is  of  deep  interest  to  both,  have  watched 
these  many  years  the  contest  between  philanthropy 
run  mad  on  the  one  side,  and  the  incarnation  of  self 
ishness  on  the  other.  One  party  finds  in  the  negro 
nothing  but  perfection ;  the  other,  affecting  to  believe 
in  his  organic  inferiority,  would  debar  him  the  privi 
leges  and  rights  of  a  reasonable  being,  and  would  ex 
clude  him  forever  from  the  possibility  of  self-culture 
and  self-improvement.  While  the  fanaticism  of  the 
day  asserts  that,  if  the  negro  will  not  labor  in  the 
field,  it  is  wrong  to  find  a  substitute  that  will,  those 


THE  BKITISH   WEST   INDIES.  17 

wedded  to  the  traditions  of  slavery  obstinately  refuse 
to  look  beyond  the  length  of  its  chain  or  profit  by 
their  own  experience.  They  learn  no  practical  lesson 
from  the  prosperity  of  Barbados.  Though  Demarara 
and  Trinidad,  with  less  natural  advantages  than  Ja 
maica,  have  rallied  from  their  depression  and  recover 
ed  from  their  embarrassments,  there  are  some  who 
will  trace  the  desolation  of  Jamaica  to  no  other  cause 
than  emancipation.  But  while  extremists  are  fight 
ing  over  abstractions,  the  West  Indian  problem  is 
slowly  and  surely  working  itself  out,  confounding,  in 
its  issues,  the  predictions  of  one  party,  and  disproving 
the  assertions  of  the  other. 


18       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR 


CHAPTER  II. 

BARBADOS  AND   ITS  CAPITAL. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

I  DO  not  propose  to  enter  into  any  description  of 
this  island,  except  in  so  far  as  it  will  tend  to  elucidate 
mj  subject — the  Results  of  Emancipation.     Elaborate 
and  minute  particulars  of  Barbados  and  her  beauties 
may  be  found  in  the  works  of  Schomberg,  Edwards, 
or  Martin.     I  can  not,  however,  consistently  pass  by 
Bridgetown,  or  fail  to  notice  its  peculiarities.     A 
stranger,  and  most  especially  an  American,  upon  first 
landing,  would  hasten  to  proclaim  it  an  exhausted 
city,  once,  possibly,  the  centre  of  a  flourishing  busi 
ness  and  the  emporium  of  great  wealth,  but  now  al 
most  abandoned  to  ruin  and  decay.     This  impression 
would  be  formed  from  various  reasons,  and  from  none 
more  than  the  contrast  which  the  capital  of  Barbados 
presents  to  what  we  should  call  a  rising  place.     To 
illustrate  this  assertion  from  my  own  experience,  I 
might  say  that  I  was  first  struck  with  the  narrow 
streets  and  the  ruined  appearance  of  the  houses.     It 
seemed  as  though  no  attempt  had  been  made  to  repair 
their  dilapidated   condition   within   half  a   century. 
The  paint  was  worn  away  from  roof  and  wood-work, 
and  the  mortar  which  had  fallen  from  the  walls  had 
never    been    replaced,  except    in   very   few    cases. 
Around  each  dwelling  of  more  than  ordinary  Barba- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  19 

dian  pretensions  there  was  generally  an  unfinished- 
looking  wall,  with  broken  pieces  of  glass  bottles  on 
the  top  to  protect  the  property  from  the  trespass  of 
the  wicked.  In  going  to  my  lodging-house,  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  distant  from  the  wharf,  I  was  obliged  to 
traverse  several  acres  of  vacant  lots,  which  were  over 
grown  with  wild  cactuses  and  studded  with  moss-cov 
ered  ruins.  They  lay  in  the  very  heart  of  the  city — 
the  "burnt  district,"  as  it  is  called,  of  twenty  years' 
standing.  Picturesque  it  was,  but  it  gave  very  little 
indication  of  industry  or  enterprise.  I  passed  up 
Broad  Street,  a  combination  of  "Wall  Street  and  Broad 
way  ;  but  though  it  was  the  busiest  time  of  day,  I  saw 
few  signs  of  the  enormous  trade  that  this  island  car 
ries  on,  and  nothing  to  remind  me  of  an  American 
city  with  a  population,  as  Bridgetown  has,  equal  to 
that  of  New  Haven.  The  lounging  gait  of  pedestri 
ans  looked  lazy  to  a  traveler  fresh  from  the  United 
States,  and  the  groups  of  idlers  along  the  pier  seemed 
to  confirm  the  popular  idea  of  African  indolence. 
But  first  impressions  are  not  always  correct  impres 
sions.  I  soon  discovered  that  the  climate  was  a  for 
midable  enemy  to  paint  and  mortar,  and  that  a  moist 
temperature  rendered  any  architectural  ornamentation 
a  piece  of  useless  extravagance ;  that  "  the  burnt  dis 
trict"  was  the  site  selected  for  new  and  commodious 
public  buildings;  that  business  was  transacted  with 
much  less  ostentation  than  in  America,  and  that  the 
idlers  on  the  wharf  were  idle  because  crop-time  had 
not  come.  I  learnt,  too,  to  make  allowances  for  the 
enervating  influences  of  a  tropical  climate  and  for  the 
penalties  of  exposure  to  a  burning  sun. 

The  town  seemed  to  me  to  possess  peculiarities  at 


20        THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

once  African,  European,  and  "West  Indian.  The 
swarms  of  chattering  negroes  in  the  streets  keep  the 
African  aspect  of  Bridgetown  constantly  before  your 
eyes.  The  market-place — about  an  acre  of  ground 
inclosed  with  a  neat  row  of  butchers'  stalls — reminds 
one  of  New  Orleans.  There  the  clatter  of  tongues 
extolling  the  virtue  of  divers  fruits  and  vegetables  of 
fered  for  sale  is  Sambo  all  the  world  over.  The  cen 
tre  of  the  market  inclosure  is  filled  with  splendid  ever 
greens,  and  beneath  their  shade  several  scores  of  negro 
women,  with  pairs  of  scales  and  piles  of  yams,  sugar 
cane,  sweet  potatoes,  oranges,  grape-fruit,  mangoes, 
etc.,  before  them,  earn  their  daily  bread.  The  fish- 
market — a  solitary  shed  erected  on  the  beach — is  in 
full  blast  about  nightfall,  after  the  fishermen  have  re 
turned  well  laden  with  flying-fish ;  and  at  the  confused 
noise  in  this  focus  of  business  even  a  London  Billings 
gate  would  be  compelled  to  hide  its  diminished  head. 
It  is  characteristic  of  Sambo  throughout ;  his  untiring 
tongue  never  stops  for  a  moment  to  take  rest.  A  cab 
stand  presents  another  vivid  picture  of  Sambo.  In  the 
midst  of  Trafalgar  Square,  near  the  statue  of  Nelson, 
and  beneath  a  gigantic  evergreen,  the  cabmen  find  it 
convenient  and  profitable  to  assemble.  "Woe  unto  the 
stranger  whom  they  espy  and  who  may  be  in  search 
of  a  one-horse  chaise ;  and  when  he  has  selected  his 
vehicle,  and  has  made  his  escape  from  the  crowd,  it  is 
amusing  to  hear  the  successful  driver  denounce  the 
"unperlite  b'havior  of  dem  niggers,"  and  deplore  the 
city  as  the  "  awfulest  he  never  see'd." 

I  think  I  was  most  struck  with  the  European  as 
pect  of  Bridgetown.  There  is,  it  is  true,  an  absence 
of  that  stern  look  of  labor  and  endurance  which  char- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  21 

acterize  a  purely  Anglo-Saxon  city ;  but  there  is  no 
slight  similarity  between  the  Barbadian  capital  and 
some  inferior  town  in  the  south  of  France.  I  was  al 
most  startled  every  now  and  then  as  I  came  across  a 
banana,  a  cocoa,  or  a  cabbage-palm-tree.  Their  trop 
ical  look  seemed  out  of  place,  and,  for  a  moment,  I 
wondered  how  they  existed  there.  A  traveler  from 
the  north  will  be  most  liable  to  forget  that,  in  Bridge 
town,  he  is  far  down  in  the  tropics,  within  eight  hund 
red  miles  of  the  equator.  The  climate  is  not  tropical ; 
it  is  to  be  imagined  and  felt,  for  it  can  not  be  described. 
Select  the  most  perfect  day  that  September  ever  pre 
sented  to  New  York,  and  I  should  do  injustice  to  a 
Barbadian  sun  and  Barbadian  breezes  if  I  compared 
Barbadian  with  American  weather.  The  sun  neces 
sarily  gives  out  a  great  heat,  but  it  is  always  temper 
ed  by  incessant  winds  and  by  intermittent  showers. 
Night  or  day,  in  winter  or  in  summer,  the  tempera 
ture  knows  no  change.  The  inconveniences  of  heat 
are  seldom  felt ;  the  penalties  of  cold  are  never  known. 
There  are  no  thunder-storms  like  those  which  deso 
late  more  elevated  regions  within  the  torrid  zones; 
no  poisonous  reptiles  of  any  kind ;  no  annoying  in 
sects  like  those  which  in  summer  months  will  make 
known  their  presence  even  in  the  latitude  of  New 
York.  The  appearance  of  the  houses,  which  are  of 
one  story  and  built  solidly  of  stone,  may  perhaps  re 
mind  you  that  you  are  in  a  country  where  the  severi 
ties  of  winter  are  not  even  imagined,  and,  after  you 
have  entered  them,  you  will  no  longer  fancy  yourself 
in  a  European  or  a  North  American  dwelling.  The 
spacious  rooms,  with  polished  pine  floors,  the  contriv 
ances  to  make  every  thing  about  you  look  cool,  as 


22       THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

well  as  to  make  you  feel  cool — the  huge  pitchers  of 
ice-water  on  the  side-boards  and  the  comfortable  cane 
chairs,  placed  so  as  to  catch  the  never-ending  breezes 
— are  luxuries  here  which  one  might  look  for  as  ne 
cessities  in  other  tropical  countries.  The  inside  of  a 
house  in  Bridgetown  is  very  different  from  what  its 
outside  appearance  would  lead  a  stranger  to  infer; 
and  this  disregard  of  outward  appearance  is  only  one 
of  a  thousand  English  idiosyncrasies  to  be  encounter 
ed.  A  few  scattered  purely  tropical  trees  are  about 
the  only  outward  indications  that  Bridgetown  possess 
es  of  being  a  tropical  city.  You  may  be  puzzled  ev 
ery  now  and  then  by  the  sight  of  a  black  soldier  in 
Zouave  costume,  or  a  black  policeman  in  a  London 
uniform,  but  they  are  anomalies.  They  do  not  be 
long  to  the  picture. 

Bridgetown,  in  fact,  is  European,  though  somewhat 
behind  the  age  of  European  progress.  It  is,  perhaps, 
necessarily  behind  the  age,  owing  to  its  insulated  po 
sition.  Its  shops  remind  you  of  an  inferior  English 
town,  and  it  is  only  after  you  have  entered  them  that 
you  discover  how  well  and  with  what  first-rate  arti 
cles  they  are  supplied.  The  streets  are  macadamized 
with  the  native  calcareous  rock,  and  are  light-colored 
and  perfectly  smooth.  The  white  population  have 
wonderfully  preserved  their  English  manners  and  cus 
toms.  You  find  here  none  of  the  indolent  and  luxu 
rious  habits  of  the  tropics.  Though  a  vast  amount  of 
business  is  transacted  before  breakfast,  the  lazy  noon 
day  siesta  is  not  indulged  in,  but  work  is  steadily 
performed  until  four  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The 
churches  are  similar  in  their  architecture  to  those  that 
may  be  seen  in  any  English  village;  the  forms  and 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  23 

ceremonies  of  English  society  are  preserved  even  to 
the  farce  of  wearing  a  stove-pipe  hat  whenever  you 
wish  to  appear  in  full  dress ;  in  spite  of  yams  and 
mangoes  the  dinner  you  eat  is  as  nearly  English  as 
circumstances  will  admit;  and  the  bed  you  lie  upon 
is  unmistakably  of  English  make  and  fashion.  Per 
haps  the  British  officers,  military  and  naval,  help  to 
keep  alive  the  peculiar  customs  of  the  mother-land ; 
but  it  is  undoubtedly  a  fact  that  the  Barbadians  take 
a  pride  in  preserving  as  close  a  resemblance  to  the 
old  country  as  the  differences  of  position  will  allow, 
and  I  am  not  prepared  to  say  that  in  so  doing  they 
act  an  unwise  part.  The  few  Americans  who  have 
emigrated  here,  though  they  have  brought  with  them 
the  spirit  of  American  invention  and  enterprise,  have 
lost  their  peculiarities,  and  have  succumbed  to  pre 
vailing  custom.  But  Yankee  clocks,  Yankee  bug 
gies,  and  that  famous  Yankee  establishment  to  which 
all  Bridgetown  daily  resorts — the  ice-house — have 
brought  fortunes  to  their  proprietors  and  delight  to 
the  hearts  of  the  Creole  population. 

Directly  you  leave  the  precincts  of  the  capital  the 
European  phase  of  the  island  vanishes.  You  may  be 
reminded  of  the  fair  scenery  of  Old  England,  to  which, 
indeed,  these  lovely  hills  and  valleys  are  likened;  but 
you  can  never  for  a  moment  forget  that  you  are  look 
ing  upon  productions  which  no  English  soil  could 
bring  forth,  and  which  no  English  sun  could  ripen. 
The  landscape  scenery  is  necessarily  on  a  small  scale, 
but  in  variety  it  is  complete,  and  occasionally  it  ap 
proaches  the  sublime.  One  of  the  grandest  spectacles 
I  ever  witnessed  was  the  view  from  Hackleton's  Cliff 
— a  bold  bluff  on  the  eastern  coast  of  the  island,  rising 


24       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

1000  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Looking  north, 
you  see  in  the  far  distance  a  range  of  hills  running 
parallel  with  the  one  upon  which  you  are  standing, 
and  in  the  intermediate  valley,  which  gradually  slopes 
toward  the  sea,  the  productions  of  all  the  Indies  are 
gathered  together.  Here  and  there,  upon  some  pro 
jection  of  coral  rock  which  the  cactuses  carefully 
conceal,  a  palm-tree  towers  like  a  land-mark  on  the 
horizon,  or  a  gigantic  sentinel  at  his  post.  Cottages 
are  thickly  scattered  over  the  picture ;  the  red  wheel 
of  the  sugar-mill,  unchanged  for  a  century,  may  be 
seen  at  every  point,  and  you  may  strain  your  eyes  in 
vain  to  look  for  a  single  spot  which  has  not  been  cul 
tivated  even  beyond  what  we  should  call  perfection. 
The  surf,  as  it  crawls  up  the  long  line  of  white  sand 
that  lies  extended  far  beneath  you,  and  the  ocean  be 
yond,  complete  a  picture  of  what  may  well  be  termed 
the  Eden  of  Barbados.  You  look  down  upon  a  val 
ley  which  burns  and  blazes  with  all  the  heat  of  the 
tropics,  but  you  are  standing  upon  a  spot  ever  open 
to  the  fresh  and  invigorating  breezes  of  the  temperate 
zones. 

_What  I  have  said  here  in  regard  to  cultivation  is 
equally  applicable  to  the  entire  island,  from  the  estate 
of  the  richest  planter  to  the  plot  of  the  poorest  negro. 
I  have  traveled  over  the  whole  of  Barbados,  and  have 
seen  scarcely  a  single  acre  of  uncultivated  land.  The 
highways  impassable  forty  years  ago  except  for  horse 
men,  are  now  perfect  models  of  cleanliness  and  smooth 
ness,  and  the  cane-fields,  more  luxuriant  than  those 
of  Louisiana  or  Texas,  are  without  inclosure,  and  ex 
tend  to  the  very  edge  of  the  roads,  which,  for  want  of 
space,  appear  to  have  been  reduced  to  the  narrowest 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  25 

limits.  Barbados  is  essentially  a  sugar -island,  and 
you  do  not  meet  in  it  the  abundance  of  fruit-trees  that 
are  to  be  seen  in  St.  Vincent  or  Grenada.  The  cocoa- 
nut-trees,  which  were  once  valued  at  a  pound  sterling 
each  per  annum,  were  destroyed  some  years  ago  by  a 
plague  of  insects,  and  the  few  that  remain  are  more 
ornamental  than  profitable.  Orange -trees,  lemons, 
grape-fruit,  mangoes,  and  bananas  are  abundant  in 
Barbados,  but  they  are  not  reared  in  such  large  groves 
here  as  in  other  islands.  The  cabbage-palm,  of  gigan 
tic  stature,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  its  class,  and 
is  best  calculated  to  adorn  the  peculiarities  of  the 
landscape.  A  planter's  house  is  generally  surround 
ed  with  these  stately  trees,  which  make  it  an  object 
of  attraction  for  miles  around. 

I  have  said  enough,  perhaps,  in  regard  to  the  gener 
al  appearance  of  Barbados,  to  give  an  idea  such  as  I 
wish  to  convey  of  its  great  natural  beauty  and  high 
cultivation.  I  shall  proceed,  therefore,  forthwith  to 
examine  the  political  and  social  condition  of  the  col 
ony,  and  compare  it  now  with  what  it  was  before  the 
abolition  of  slavery.  The  question  has  many  ramifi 
cations,  and  each  of  the  West  India  islands — I  might 
almost  say  each  plantation — must  stand  upon  its  own 
merits,  for  I  know  that  causes  which  might  ruin  one 
would  not  affect  another.  Arguments  that  may  ap 
ply  to  overcrowded  Barbados  might  with  equal  jus 
tice  be  used  in  regard  to  Kansas  and  Dacotah  as  to 
the  rich  virgin  soil  and  sparsely-settled  island  of  Trin 
idad.  The  subject,  indeed,  is  not  to  be  approached 
hastily ;  but  I  hope  that  the  information  which  I  have 
procured  only  from  authentic  sources  I  shall  succeed 
in  giving  with  unbiased  faithfulness. 

B 


26       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  GOVERNING  CLASSES  OF  BARBADOS. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

IN  comparing  the  commerce  of  the  British  West 
India  colonies  under  freedom  with  their  commerce 
under  slavery,  it  has  been  broadly  stated  that,  in  1831, 
the  sugar  exports  amounted  to  four  million  cwt.,  and 
in  1857  to  three  million  cwt. ;  and  upon  this  ground 
the  deterioration  of  all  the  colonies  is  asserted.  While 
I  do  not  deny  the  fact  of  a  diminished  exportation  of 
the  staple  product,  I  must  dispute  the  conclusion  to 
which  it  has  given  rise.  It  is  altogether  unfair  to 
group  the  islands  for  any  such  purpose — as  unfair  as 
it  would  be  to  class  half  a  dozen  Mexican  departments 
with  Texas,  and  j  udge  of  the  condition  of  Texas  by 
the  average  prosperity  of  the  whole.  The  West  In 
dia  islands  differ  essentially  one  from  another.  Evils 
which  combined  to  injure  one  have  not  existed  in  an 
other;  and  while  some,  under  the  emancipation  regime, 
have  notoriously  fallen  off  in  their  trade,  others  have 
as  notoriously  progressed.  We  have  given  due  credit 
to  the  alleged  disastrous  effects  of  emancipation  with 
out  attempting  to  account  for  the  phenomenon  that 
Barbados,  for  example,  is  infinitely  more  prosperous 
now  than  she  ever  was  in  the  palmiest  days  of  slavery. 
This  fact — for  a  fact  I  expect  to  prove  it — has  induced 
me  to  look  more  closely  than  I  otherwise  should  have 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  27 

done  into  the  past  and  present  condition  of  this  isl 
and  ;  to  examine  the  relations  of  her  landed  aristocra 
cy  and  her  people  as  landlord  and  tenant,  master  and 
servant,  planter  and  laborer ;  to  compare  slave  labor 
with  free  labor,  and  the  civil  and  social  condition  of 
the  island  under  one  system  with  its  civil  and  social 
condition  under  the  other ;  and  to  explain,  if  possible, 
the  causes  that  have  increased  Barbadian  resources, 
and  have  contributed  so  greatly  to  Barbadian  wealth. 

I  will  admit  at  the  outset  that  I  have  no  sympathy 
with  the  argument  of  the  Abolitionists,  that  the  ques 
tion  of  emancipation  is  one  in  which  the  black  race 
are  to  be  only  considered,  or  that  "depreciation  of 
property  is  as  nothing  compared  with  a  depreciation 
of  morality."  I  deem  the  question  a  commercial  one, 
to  be  judged  favorably  or  unfavorably  by  commercial 
rules;  for  whatever  philanthropists  may  say  to  the 
contrary,  it  seems  to  me  very  evident  that  a  system 
which  would  bring  inevitable  ruin  on  that  portion  of 
a  population  which  controls  the  elements  of  civiliza 
tion  can  not  contribute  to  the  moral  or  material  prog 
ress  of  a  country. 

Those  who  have  searched  for  the  truth,  and  have 
patiently  and  with  unbiased  judgment  unraveled  the 
thread  of  West  Indian  difficulties,  can  not  fail  to  have 
remarked  that,  long  before  the  Emancipation  Act  was 
passed,  the  sugar  estates  had  reached  the  acme  of  their 
prosperity,  and  had  commenced  steadily  to  decline. 
The  embarrassments  of  the  proprietary  in  those  days 
were  owing  to  heavy  incumbrances,  to  want  of  cap 
ital,  to  extravagance,  mismanagement,  and  absentee 
ism.  But  whatever  the  'cause,  in  whole  or  in  part,  it 
is  sufficient  to  establish  the  fact ;  and  scores  of  Parlia- 


28       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

mentary  blue-books  will  famish  particulars  to  those 
who  are  curious  in  such  matters  of  the  chronic  dis 
tress  of  West  India  planters.  We  find,  for  instance, 
that  in  1792,  before  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade, 
the  Jamaica  House  of  Representatives  reported  that 
within  twenty  years  177  estates  had  been  sold  for 
debt.  Again,  in  1807,  the  same  body  reported  that  in 
the  five  years  preceding  the  abolition  of  the  slave- 
trade  65  estates  had  been  abandoned.  The  complaint 
of  the  planters  then  was  that  the  old  islands  were  un 
able  to  compete  with  the  new  colonies  which,  by  con 
quest,  had  recently  become  dependencies  of  the  Brit 
ish  Crown,  and  they  endeavored  to  secure  a  protective 
tariff  in  the  British  market.  Another  grievance  was 
the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  On  this  account  the 
planters  were  unable,  as  they  said,  to  compete  with 
the  foreign  colonies,  and  we  find  them  again  before 
Parliament  pleading  "  that  the  West  Indies  are  now 
and  have  been  for  some  time  past  laboring  under  mul 
tiplied  difficulties  and  embarrassments."  In  1831  a 
convention  of  delegates  from  all  the  West  India  colo 
nies  met  in  this  very  island  upon  the  basis  "  that  a 
unanimous  expression  of  the  sentiments  of  the  colo 
nists  on  the  present  alarming  and  depressed  state  of  the 
West  Indies  would  tend  to  impress  more  strongly  on 
his  majesty's  government  and  the  Parliament  of  En 
gland  the  very  urgent  necessity  which  exists  for  im 
mediate  and  substantial  relief  to  save  them  from  im 
pending  ruin."  It  was  the  policy  of  the  planters  at 
this  time  to  prove  the  expense  of  slave  labor,  and  to 
show  that,  without  the  slave-trade,  they  could  not  pro 
duce  sugar  as  cheaply  as  it  was  produced  in  those  isl 
ands  where  the  traffic  was  not  prohibited.  In  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  29 

Parliamentary  blue-books  of  the  day  we  find  the  most 
elaborate  statistics  (alarming  to  contemplate)  of  the 
cost  of  slave  labor,  and,  among  other  items  of  this  ex 
pensive  system,  one  which  fixed  the  average  number 
of  non-effective  slaves  on  an  estate  at  30  and  40  per 
cent,  was  strenuously  urged.  A  few  years  afterward, 
when  the  emancipation  excitement  was  at  its  height, 
and  the  planter  again  came  before  Parliament  with 
his  grievance,  his  policy  was  changed.  He  had  now 
to  demonstrate  the  cheapness  of  slave  labor  as  com 
pared  with  the  extravagant  cost  of  free  labor ;  and  it 
is  curious  and  amusing  to  compare  the  statements  be 
fore  the  Commons  Committee  of  the  same  men  who 
sought  in  1831  to  place  slave  labor  at  the  highest,  and 
in  1837  at  the  lowest  possible  figures,  and  to  note  their 
glaring  inconsistencies. 

In  proper  historical  order,  emancipation  was  the 
third  grievance  of  which  the  planter  complained,  and 
over  this  he  brooded  for  many  years.  He  did  not 
hesitate  to  ascribe  all  his  misfortunes  to  this,  the  latest 
act  of  injustice,  carried  through  the  British  Parliament 
in  a  moment  of  hasty  enthusiasm,  and  made  a  law 
without  the  consent  or  advice,  and  against  the  inter 
ests  of  those  whom  it  most  deeply  and  most  vitally 
concerned.  The  act  well-nigh  produced  as  great  a 
political  as  it  did  a  social  revolution  in  the  islands; 
and  it  may  naturally  be  supposed  that  many  years 
would  elapse  before  the  planter  would  become  recon 
ciled  to  the  change.  Yet  he  did  become  reconciled ; 
he  believes  now  that  the  system  under  which  his  es 
tate  is  worked  is  cheaper  and  more  profitable  to  him 
self  than  that  of  the  old  regime.  With  what  reason  I 
shall  hereafter  have  occasion  to  show ;  but  I  assert, 


30       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

without  the  fear  of  a  single  contradiction,  that  no  Bar 
badian  planter  would  hesitate  in  1859  to  select  free 
labor  in  preference  to  slave  labor,  as  in  his  belief  the 
more  economical  system  of  the  two.  But  the  old 
spirit  of  the  plantocracy  still  lives.  When  that  fabric 
of  barbaric  times,  Monopoly,  was  swept  away,  the  West 
India  proprietary  once  more  lifted  their  voice  in  com 
plaint.  "What,"  said  they  to  the  British  people, 
"after  all  your  professions  of  philanthropy,  are  you 
going  to  admit  slave-grown  sugar  on  a  par  with  free- 
grown  sugar?  are  you  going  to  place  a  premium  on 
slavery  after  you  have  crippled  your  own  colonies 
with  abolition?"  But  alas!  for  the  selfishness  of  hu 
man  nature,  the  British  of  to-day  are  a  practical  peo 
ple  ;  and,  whatever  the  philanthropy  of  their  fathers 
may  have  been,  or  whatever  their  own  may  still  be, 
they  are  determined  to  have  their  sugar  at  the  low 
est  possible  figure.  They  want  to  place  this  eman 
cipation  bugbear  upon  a  broader  basis  than  the  one 
on  which  it  has  hitherto  stood.  They  no  longer  favor 
their  pet  scheme,  but  have  left  it  to  fight  its  own  bat 
tle  with  slave  labor,  and  whatever  be  the  result  they 
will  be  the  gainers.  The  argument  of  the  planter  that 
free  -trade  in  sugar  places  a  premium  upon  slavery  is 
certainly  a  home-thrust  for  the  Abolitionist,  who  con 
tends  that  this  question  of  emancipation  should  only 
be  considered  from  a  moral  point  of  view.  But  it  is 
like  all  other  pleas  for  relief  advanced  by  the  West  In 
dia  proprietary.  They  have  represented  themselves 
as  the  victims  of  profound  distress  under  the  slave- 
trade,  under  slavery,  and  under  emancipation,  omit 
ting  only  to  state  that  this  distress  was  aggravated, 
if  not  caused,  by  their  own  extravagance,  and  by  the 


THE  BRITISH   WEST   INDIES.  31 

monstrous  debts  with  which  their  estates  were  heavi 
ly  burdened. 

If  the  planters  admit,  as  they  all  unquestionably  do, 
that  free  labor  is  cheaper  than  slave  labor,  they  do  not 
agree  that,  under  the  former  system,  the  necessary 
force  can  be  as  readily  and  as  regularly  obtained  as 
under  the  latter.  This,  in  fact,  is  the  great  grievance 
of  the  present  day — not  of  Barbadian  planters,  but  of 
those  in  the  other  islands.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that,  protected  by  her  small  area  and  dense  population 
— a  population  larger  to  the  square  mile  than  that  of 
China — Barbados  since  emancipation  has  not  suffered 
from  the  want  of  labor  like  other  colonies.  To  this 
cause  more,  perhaps,  than  to  any  other,  she  owes  her 
present  wonderful  prosperity.  It  is  usually  urged,  as 
the  very  strongest  argument  against  emancipation, 
that  the  negroes,  no  longer  compelled  to  work,  aban 
doned  the  estates,  which,  as  a  natural  consequence,  fell 
into  ruin  and  decay.  I  am  not  going  to  deny  that 
many  and  many  estates  were  abandoned,  but  the 
causes  of  their  being  abandoned  should  be  rightly  un 
derstood.  If  the  indolence  of  the  negro  be  one  cause, 
a  second  may  be  found,  as  history  proves,  in  the  mort 
gages  with  which  the  estates  were  burdened ;  and  a 
third,  as  practical  observation  will  demonstrate,  in  the 
uncertain  and  impolitic  relations  that  have  existed 
since  emancipation  between  landlord  and  tenant. 

At  the  time  of  emancipation  the  slaves  were  left  in 
possession  of  their  houses  and  allotment-lands,  which 
they  continued  to  occupy  after  their  term  of  appren 
ticeship  had  expired.  In  Barbados  the  tenant  worked 
for  the  landlord  at  20  per  cent,  below  the  common 
market  rate,  and  his  service  was  taken  as  an  equiva- 


32       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

lent  for  rent.  But  the  practice  produced  endless  dif 
ficulties  and  disagreements ;  the  law  did  not  bear  out 
the  planter,  and  another  system  was  introduced. 
Under  the  new  practice,  still  in  force,  a  laborer  has  a 
house  and  land  allotment  on  an  estate  for  which  he  pays 
a  stipulated  rent ;  but  he  is  under  an  engagement  be 
sides,  as  a  condition  of  renting,  to  give  to  the  estate  a  cer 
tain  number  of  days'  labor  at  certain  stipulated  wages, 
varying  from  one  sixth  to  one  third  less  than  the  mark 
et  price.  The  rate  of  wages  for  field  labor  in  Bar 
bados  is  about  24  cents  per  day ;  but  the  laborer,  fet 
tered  by  the  system  of  tenancy -at- will,  is  compelled  to 
work  for  his  landlord  at  20  cents  per  day.  He  is, 
therefore,  virtually  a  slave ;  for  if  he  resists  the  con 
ditions  of  his  bond  he  is  ejected  by  summary  process, 
and  loses  the  profit  he  hoped  to  reap  on  his  little 
stock.  This  remnant  of  coercion  must  be  abolished 
wherever  it  exists — and  it  prevails,  with  some  excep 
tions,  in  all  the  West  India  colonies — before  it  can  be 
said  that  emancipation  has  been  thoroughly  tested. 
A  free  tenancy  on  an  equitable  system — a  yearly  in 
stead  of  the  present  monthly  tenure — are  reforms 
most  urgently  needed,  and  a  movement  in  this  direc 
tion  has  been  already  undertaken.  Last  autumn  an 
association  was  formed  in  Barbados  to  improve  the 
social  and  moral  condition  of  the  laboring  population  ; 
and,  in  the  preamble  to  the  resolutions  adopted  at  the 
first  meeting,  it  was  asserted — a  fact  too  patent  to  deny 
— that  one  of  the  main  barriers  to  social  progress  arose 
from  "  a  want  of  confidence  between  the  employer  and 
the  employed."  But  the  proprietary  body  have  so 
set  their  faces  against  the  movement  that  its  chances 
of  success  for  the  present  are  very  unpromising.  The 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  33 

planters,  tenacious  of  their  privileges,  and,  like  aristoc 
racies  all  the  world  over,  anxious  to  retain  their  pow 
er  over  the  masses,  met  to  counteract  the  new  move 
ment.  They  denounced  the  society  "  for  attempting 
to  arouse  unjust  suspicions  in  the  minds  of  the  ig 
norant  touching  their  rights;"  they  viewed  "with 
alarm"  and  "as  a  political  movement"  the  desire  for 
a  more  liberal  tenure,  and  as  "  an  endeavor  to  jeopard 
ize  the  successful  sj^stem  of  plantation  management 
as  now  adopted;"  they  maintained  that  "the  best  of 
feeling"  existed  between  them  and  their  tenants,  and, 
finally,  they  declared  their  "inherent  right"  to  adopt 
such  measures  as  they  might  think  fit  for  the  good 
government,  safety,  and  well-doing  of  their  properties. 
The  absurdity  of  these  pretensions  in  a  professedly 
free  country  need  not  be  pointed  out ;  and  I  only  in 
troduce  them  in  order  to  show  the  illiberal  nature  of 
the  tenure  which  the  planters  still  resolutely  uphold. 
They  hope  by  stringent  measures  to  retain  the  liber 
ated  peasantry  on  their  estates,  but  their  laws  produce 
the  very  opposite  effect ;  and  in  spite  of  the  warnings 
of  experience  and  the  dictates  of  common  sense,  they 
obstinately  stick  to  a  policy  which  has  ruined  many  a 
fair  West  India  property. 

I  must  again  repeat  that  Barbados  offers  a  solita 
ry  exception  to  the  general  argument.  The  popula 
tion  here,  as  I  have  said,  is  extremely  dense,  averaging 
800  persons  to  the  square  mile,  and  partly  from  an 
aversion  of  the  negro  to  leave  his  home,  partly  from 
his  fear,  still  easily  excited,  of  being  sold  into  slavery, 
no  material  emigration  from  the  island  has  ever  taken 
place.  In  Barbados,  therefore,  labor  has  been  always 
abundant,  and  the  island,  which  out  of  106,000  acres 
B2 


34       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

has  100,000  under  cultivation,  presents  the  appear 
ance  of  a  perfect  garden.  Land,  as  I  shall  hereafter 
show,  averages  $500  an  acre ;  and  when  it  is  added 
that  the  land  which  brings  such  a  price  is  purchased 
for  agricultural  purposes  only,  we  have,  in  the  fact, 
conclusive  evidence  of  most  remarkable  prosperity. 
All  this,  practically  considered,  is  owing  in  a  greater 
degree  to  an  adequate  laboring  population  than  to 
the  special  benefits  of  abolition,  as  illustrated  in  an 
Anti-slavery  Society's  annual  report.  But  no  credit 
is  due  to  the  Barbadian  plantocracy  for  retaining  that 
adequate  laboring  population  in  their  employ.  To 
the  latter  it  was  the  option  of  work  at  low  wages,  and 
on  most  illiberal  terms,  or  starvation.  But  in  other 
colonies,  as  in  Trinidad  or  British  Guiana,  where  the 
same  illiberal  tenure  prevailed,  the  result  was  very 
different.  There,  where  land  was  cheap  and  abund 
ant  and  the  population  sparse,  the  laborer  soon  dis 
covered  that  a  path  to  independence  lay  open  before 
him ;  and  as  the  planter  became  more  stubborn  in  his 
system  of  coercion,  and  more  rigid  in  exacting  the  re 
quirements  of  an  obnoxious  tenure  law,  he  discovered 
too  late  that,  for  want  of  labor,  lost  through  his  own 
mistaken  policy,  he  was  compelled  to  abandon  his  es 
tate.  And  yet  it  is  surprising  how  the  negro,  in  spite 
of  all  disadvantages,  has  clung  to  the  soil  upon  which 
he  was  born.  So  true  is  this,  that  after  having  close 
ly  examined  the  causes  of  estates  being  deserted,  I  find 
that  they  are  debt,  incumbrance,  and  want  of  capital, 
far  more  than  want  of  labor.  "We  in  the  United 
States  have  heard  of  abandoned  properties  in  the 
West  Indies,  and,  without  much  investigation,  have 
listened  to  the  planters'  excuse — the  indolence  of  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  85 

negro,  who  refuses  to  work  except  under  compulsion ; 
but  I  shall  be  able  to  show  that,  in  those  colonies 
where  estates  have  been  abandoned,  the  laboring  class 
es,  instead  of  passing  from  servitude  to  indolence  and 
idleness,  have  set  up  for  themselves,  and  that  small 
proprietors  since  emancipation  have  increased  a  hund 
red-fold.  I  shall  also  show  that  in  those  islands,  as  in 
St.  Lucia,  where  a  more  liberal  tenure  prevails,  the  in 
dustry  of  the  laboring  population  is  not  to  be  ques 
tioned.  It  was  only  the  other  day  that  I  read  an  ex 
tract  from  a  Tobago  paper  in  the  planting  interest,  in 
which  the  writer  deplores  "  the  perverse  selfishness  of 
the  laborers."  He  complains  that  the  laborers  have 
large  patches  of  land  in  cultivation,  and  hire  help  at 
higher  wages  than  the  estates  can  afford  to  pay,  and  sug 
gests  "as  the  only  remedy  for  these  serious  evils"  a 
fresh  importation  of  coolies.  The  planter  can  indeed 
point  to  Barbadian  estates  as  having  been  successfully 
worked  under  his  peculiar  tenure  system;  but  they 
are  exceptions,  not  the  rule ;  and  that  they  have  been 
successfully  worked  is  owing  to  an  overcrowded  la 
boring  population,  and  not  to  any  merit  whatsoever  in 
the  tenure  itself. 

But  there  is  a  more  general  view  to  be  taken  of 
the  question — a  more  general  cause  than  the  specific 
one  which  I  have  explained,  to  which  the  abandon 
ment  of  the  sugar-estates  may  be  assigned.  It  is  a 
truism  that  where  land  is  cheap  there  labor  is  dear; 
and  where  land  is  dear  there  labor  is  cheap.  In  the 
overcrowded  districts  of  England  land  is  dear  and  la 
bor  cheap ;  in  the  sparsely-settled  states  of  Western 
America  land  is  cheap  and  labor  dear.  This  became 
the  case  in  the  West  Indies  as  soon  as  the  people  were 


36       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

released  from  bondage.  The  examples  are  precisely 
parallel,  the  reasoning  and  deductions  exactly  sim 
ilar.  In  the  old  and  thickly-settled  island  of  Barba 
dos  land  was  dear,  the  people  could  not  purchase,  and 
labor  has  remained  to  this  day  cheap  and  plentiful. 
In  Trinidad  or  in  British  Guiana  land  was  cheap  and 
plentiful ;  the  people  could  purchase,  and  have  pur 
chased  in  surprising  numbers,  and  labor  is,  consequent 
ly,  both  scarce  and  dear.  In  Barbados,  through  their 
overcrowded  condition  and  the  policy  of  the  planter, 
the  people  have  been  kept  in  a  subservient  position. 
In  Trinidad  or  British  Guiana  the  people  have  been 
able  to  exchange  a  condition  of  servitude  for  one  of 
independence — in  other  words,  to  leave  the  estates 
upon  which  they  were  laborers :  and  they  are,  as  a 
natural  consequence,  more  enlightened,  better  educa 
ted,  and  more  wealthy  than  their  brethren  in  Barba 
dos.  Compare,  again,  a  thickly-populated  European 
district  with  a  sparsely -settled  county  in  Western 
America.  In  the  one  case  the  vast  majority  are  toil 
ing  for  their  daily  pittance,  and,  whatever  the  wealth 
of  the  place  may  be,  it  is  in  the  hands  of  the  few.  In 
the  other  case  there  is  a  population  of  freeholders, 
every  man  independent,  and  wealth  is  evenly  distrib 
uted  among  all.  Though  the  European  district  should 
export  a  hundred-fold  more  than  the  American  coun 
ty,  no  one  will  pretend  that  the  American  farmer  is 
not  much  more  elevated  in  the  social  scale  than  the 
European  laborer.  This  is  exactly  the  distinction 
that  should  be  made  between  the  negroes  in  Trinidad 
and  in  the  other  islands  where  they  have  been  able 
to  leave  the  estates  and  work  for  themselves,  and 
those  in  Barbados,  where,  by  force  of  circumstances, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  37 

they  have  been  compelled  to  remain  on  the  estates 
and  work  for  others.  It  is  the  instinct  of  human  na 
ture  to  aspire  to  independence,  and,  in  this  respect,  the 
arguments  applicable  to  a  white  man  may  with  equal 
propriety  be  applied  to  the  negro. 

I  have  considered  the  planter  as  a  lord  of  the  soil 
and  as  a  landlord ;  but  before  I  leave  this  branch  of 
my  subject  I  have  a  few  words  to  say  of  him  as  a  leg 
islator.  Politically  considered,  the  population  of  Bar 
bados  may  be  divided  into  three  classes — the  aristoc 
racy,  who  are  the  planters;  the  middle  class,  composed 
alike  of  white  and  colored  mechanics,  and  the  lower 
orders,  which  are  the  black  laborers.  The  first  alone 
is  represented  in  the  Legislature ;  and  the  government, 
like  the  old  Venetian  republic,  is  a  pure  oligarchy. 
The  influence  of  the  governor  is  the  only  protection 
for  the  masses  against  plantocratic  legislation.  In 
the  present  representative  of  her  majesty  people  of  all 
classes  have  found  an  impartial  chief  and  a  statesman 
of  profound  and  practical  experience.  He  has  made 
the  labor  question,  as  a  question  of  political  and  social 
economy,  the  subject  of  the  closest  investigation  with 
in  the  limits  of  his  government,  which  includes  Barba 
dos,  St.  Vincent,  Tobago,  Grenada,  and  St.  Lucia.  Mr. 
Hincks  has  neither  forgotten  nor  forsaken  the  enlight 
ened  and  liberal  views  which  placed  him  for  so  many 
years  at  the  head  of  the  Canadian  administration,  and 
we  find  him  in  Barbados  earnestly  advocating  when 
ever  he  can  an  extension  of  the  franchise.  But,  by 
his  very  position,  a  colonial  governor  is  deprived  of 
any  active  political  influence,  and  the  Barbadian  fran 
chise  remains  as  it  stood  a  century  ago.  It  gives  a 
vote  to  every  freeholder  with  a  rental  of  §60  per  an- 


38        THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

num,  to  a  leaseholder  who  pays  $320  per  annum,  and 
to  a  possessor  of  a  town  occupancy  of  $160  per  an 
num.  This  franchise  utterly  excludes  the  middle 
class  from  the  polls,  and  places  legislation  under  the 
complete  control  of  the  planting  interest.  I  will  not, 
therefore,  be  deemed  far  wrong  when  I  call  this  gov 
ernment  an  oligarchy,  especially  when  it  is  known 
that,  at  the  last  election  for  the  "  popular  branch"  of 
the  Legislature,  the  whole  number  of  votes  polled  in 
Barbados  amounted  to  one  hundred  and  forty -seven, 
out  of  a  population  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
souls ! 

The  planting  interest  of  these  islands  may  be  char 
acterized  as  one  of  unqualified  selfishness.  But  it  has 
not  the  merit  of  being  a  prudent,  sagacious,  or  far-see 
ing  selfishness.  Extravagant  in  all  that  pertained  to 
their  own  ease  and  luxury ;  penurious  when  the  im 
provement,  moral,  social,  or  political,  of  the  people 
was  in  question ;  tenacious  of  their  aristocratic  priv 
ileges,  opposed  to  reform,  and  behind  the  age  in  polit 
ical,  agricultural,  and  mechanical  science,  the  planters 
themselves  have  done  all  they  could  to  retard  the 
progress  of  the  West  India  colonies,  and  to  aggravate 
the  evils  which  an  ill-planned  and  untimely  scheme 
of  emancipation  entailed  upon  the  islands.  Theirs 
was  not  the  broad,  grasping  selfishness  of  a  powerful 
oligarchy  wise  enough  to  combine  their  own  aggrand 
izement  with  that  of  the  nation  at  large ;  but  it  has 
been  from  first  to  last  a  narrow-minded  selfishness 
that  pursued  crooked  paths  to  accumulate  gain  at  the 
expense  of  the  public  weal,  and  to  the  infinite  detri 
ment  of  the  colonial  credit. 


THE   BRITISH    WEST   INDIES. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  BLACK  AND  COLORED  POPULATION  OF  BARBADOS. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

WHILE  the  over-crowded  condition  of  Barbados  has 
tended  to  keep  her  laboring  population  in  a  subservi 
ent  position,  a  deficient  system  of  education  has  done 
much  to  prevent  the  circulation  of  general  intelligence. 
There  would  be  nothing  surprising,  and  no  ground  for 
argument  against  emancipation  in  the  fact,  if  fact  it 
could  be  proved,  that  the  laboring  classes  are  still  as 
ignorant  and  unlettered  as  they  were  in  the  days  of 
slavery.  But,  in  spite  of  all  obstacles,  I  find  that  after 
the  lapse  of  twenty  years  they  have  made  decided 
progress  in  the  social  scale,  and,  though  their  natural 
vices  are  often  shocking  to  witness,  they  are  not  so 
abundant  or  so  extravagant  as  a  theorist  would  sup 
pose  them  to  be  after  the  restrictions  of  slavery  had 
been  suddenly  removed. 

It  is  a  fact  which  speaks  volumes,  that  within  the 
last  fifteen  years,  in  spite  of  the  extraordinary  price  of 
land  and  the  low  rate  of  wages,  the  small  proprietors 
of  Barbados  holding  less  than  five  acres  have  in 
creased  from  1100  to  3537.  A  great  majority  of 
these  proprietors  were  formerly  slaves,  subsequently 
free  laborers,  and  finally  landholders.  This  is  certain 
ly  an  evidence  of  industrious  habits,  and  a  remarka 
ble  contradiction  to  the  prevailing  idea  that  the  negro 


40       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

will  only  work  under  compulsion.  That  idea  was 
formed  and  fostered  from  the  habits  of  the  negro  as  a 
slave;  his  habits  as  a  freeman,  developed  under  a 
wholesome  stimulus  and  settled  by  time,  are  in  strik 
ing  contrast  to  his  habits  as  a  slave.  I  am  simply 
stating  a  truth  in  regard  to  the  Barbadian  Creole  which 
here,  at  least,  will  not  be  denied.  I  have  conversed 
on  the  subject  with  all  classes  and  conditions  of  peo 
ple,  and  none  are  more  ready  to  admit  than  the  plant 
ers  themselves  that  the  free  laborer  in  Barbados  is  a 
better,  more  cheerful,  and  more  industrious  workman 
than  the  slave  ever  was  under  a  system  of  compulsion. 
These  are  the  opinions  of  men  who  themselves  were 
once  violently  opposed  to  freedom,  and  who  still  strive 
to  keep  the  laboring  classes  in  complete  dependence ; 
and  they  are  opinions  so  universal  that  I  have  sought 
dilgently,  but  in  vain,  to  hear  them  contradicted.  The 
negro  will  not  work  with  the*  steadiness  of  a  white 
man,  nor  can  it  be  expected  that  he  should,  with  all 
the  disadvantages  of  a  tropical  climate  against  him. 
But  from  my  own  observations,  which  I  purposely 
made  as  extended  as  possible,  I  can  assert  that  the 
crowds  of  laborers,  male  and  female,  whom  I  frequent 
ly  met  in  the  cane-fields,  were  as  diligent  in  the  per 
formance  of  their  duties  as  any  other  class  of  Africans 
I  ever  saw  either  in  freedom  or  in  slavery;  and  actual 
comparisons  have  proved  that  the  free  laborer  gets 
through  more  work  in  a  specified  time  than  ever  a 
slave  did  under  the  old  system. 

I  can  not  speak  as  highly  of  the  morality  of  the  la 
boring  population  of  Barbados  as  I  can  of  their  indus 
try.  The  clergy  may  publish  church  and  school  sta 
tistics,  which,  I  admit,  go  to  show  that  scholars  and 


THE  BRITISH   WEST  INDIES.  41 

churchmen  multiply.  But  statistics  on  such  subjects 
are  not  of  much  importance  when  they  run  counter  to 
common  every-day  experience.  To  prove  that  the 
vicious  put  on  a  religious  demeanor  with  their  Sun 
day  coat,  and  will  listen  patiently  to  a  tedious,  incom 
prehensible  sermon,  only  makes  the  case  worse.  It 
is  shown  that  since  emancipation  the  higher  crimes 
are  less  frequently  committed  than  they  were  before. 
Crimes  of  violence  are  almost  unknown,  and  in  the 
streets,  thanks  to  efficient  police  regulations,  the  most 
perfect  order  is  preserved ;  but  crimes  of  calculation, 
thieving,  swindling,  and  the  minor  vices  have  appar 
ently  increased.  I  speak  from  prison  statistics,  and  it 
must  be  borne  in  mind  that  over  a  large  number,  if 
not  all,  of  these  offenses  the  planter  formerly  had  ex 
clusive  jurisdiction,  and  they  were  never  known  be 
yond  the  precincts  of  his  own  estate.  It  is,  therefore, 
unfair  to  make  any  deductions  from  the  criminal  rec 
ords  of  the  present  day  and  compare  them  with  those 
of  the  past,  when  no  just  comparison  can  be  instituted. 
But  I  have  seen  exhibitions  of  unrestrained  passion, 
of  cruelty,  and  of  vice,  to  which,  in  a  state  of  slavery, 
the  negro  would  never  be  permitted  to  give  vent.  I 
have  seen  parents  beat  their  children  in  such  an  inhu 
man  manner  as  to  make  me  feel  that  liberty  to  them 
was  a  curse  to  all  over  whom  they  were  allowed  to 
exercise  any  authority  or  control.  I  am  speaking 
now  of  what  is  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception 
among  the  lowest  class  of  the  negro  population. 
Among  their  other  vices,  immorality  and  promiscu 
ous  intercourse  of  the  sexes  are  almost  universal. 
From  the  last  census  it  appears  that  more  than  half 
of  the  children  born  in  Barbados  are  illegitimate. 


42       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

The  clergy,  and  with  some  show  of  reason,  claim  that 
the  immorality  of  the  people  under  freedom  is  not  so 
bad  as  it  was  under  slavery,  where  marriage  was  not 
even  allowed.  But  I  can  not  think  the  argument 
sound.  It  may  show  that  the  new  civil  and  social 
regime  is  an  improvement  on  the  old  one ;  but  quoad 
those  who,  at  their  own  election,  prefer  vice  to  virtue, 
it  does  not  present  them  in  a  very  favorable  light. 

Against  the  middle  class — as  a  class — the  imputa 
tion  of  unfaithfulness  to  the  marriage  vow  could  not 
be  maintained ;  but  among  the  laboring  people  moral 
ity,  not  now  through  ignorance  or  compulsion,  but 
from  choice,  remains  at  the  lowest  ebb.  I  leave  the 
reader  to  draw  what  inference  he  pleases  from  such  a 
state  of  things.  I  simply  report  facts.  But  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  moral  grounds  of  the  Abolitionist  for 
removing  the  restrictions  of  slavery  are,  in  Barbados 
at  least,  the  very  worst  that  could  be  selected.  Mo 
rality  has  not  kept  pace  with  material  progress.  Mak 
ing  every  allowance  for  the  influence  of  climate,  there 
is  still  no  palliation  for  such  a  superabundance  of  vice. 

Observing  the  wide  distinction  that  exists  between 
the  colored  people  of  the  middle  and  those  of  the  la 
boring  classes,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  it  is 
chiefly  due  to  an  imperfect  and  erroneous  system  of 
education.  That  education  is  not  based  upon  the 
broad  democratic  principle  that  it  is  the  province  of 
the  state  to  see  that  the  children  of  the  state  possess 
sufficient  intelligence  and  information  to  perform  their 
duties  as  freemen.  Education  in  Barbados  is  confined 
to  those  who  have  the  means  to  pay  for  the  luxury 
of  knowledge,  and  though  statistics  show  a  marked 
progress  since  the  date  of  emancipation,  it  is  rather 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  43 

the  progress  of  a  class  than  of  the  whole  population. 
Of  the  daily  primary  schools  in  connection  with  the 
Church  of  England,  which  in  Barbados  is  the  estab 
lished  Church,  there  were  in  1834  twenty-seven,  with 
an  average  of  1574  scholars;  in  1858,  twenty-two 
years  afterward,  the  schools  had  increased  to  70  and 
the  scholars  to  6180,  besides  the  establishment  of  an 
infant  school,  with  an  average  attendance  of  1140 
children.  The  Sunday-schools,  which,  in  1834,  num 
bered  19r  with  an  attendance  of  1679,  now  number 
24,  with  an  attendance  of  2071.  On  the  other  hand 
it  must  be  observed  that  what  were  called  estate 
schools  under  slavery  exist  no  longer.  The  schools 
enumerated  above  are  all  in  connection  with  the 
Church  of  England ;  those  attached  to  the  Moravian 
and  Wesleyan  persuasions,  of  which  I  have  been  un 
able  to  procure  statistics,  may  number  about  half  as 
many  more.  But  all  the  schools  are  under  church  in 
fluence,  and  are  necessarily  imbued  with  church  prej 
udices;  and  were  education  on  such  a  system  much 
more  extended  than  it  really  is,  one  would  scarcely 
look  for  any  wholesome  diffusion  of  popular  instruc 
tion.  If  we  are  to  judge  of  the  capacities  of  the  ne 
gro  population  by  those  who  have  been  fortunate 
enough  to  receive  a  tolerable  education,  we  must  be 
lieve  that  knowledge  here,  as  elsewhere,  will  elevate 
the  laboring  classes,  and  will  greatly  diminish  prevail 
ing  vice.  The  large  increase  of  small  landed  propri 
etors,  the  number  of  colored  mechanics,  merchants, 
clerks,  and  business  men,  in  public  and  private  etetab- 
lishment^ — all  of  whom  make  up  the  middle  class — 
abundantly  illustrate  the  industry  of  the  African  and 
his  capacity  for  improvement. 


44       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

I  need  not  attempt  to  delineate  what  is  so  thorough 
ly  well  known  as  the  character  of  the  untutored  ne 
gro.  His  degradation  I  do  not  doubt ;  his  moral  and 
intellectual  deficiencies  can  not  possibly  excite  sur 
prise.  But  what  I  do  protest  against  is,  that  this  pho 
tograph  of  the  enslaved  African  should  be  held  up  as 
the  likeness  of  the  same  man  after  he  has  been  twen 
ty  years  free.  All  who  have  witnessed  African  slav 
ery  will  be  ready  to  recognize  the  careless,  reckless, 
thoughtless  nature  of  the  bondsman,  as  exhibited  dur 
ing  passing  moments  of  relief  from  the  eye  of  a  task 
master.  Would  any  white  people  in  the  world,  born 
and  bred  in  slavery,  uneducated,  untaught,  ignorant 
even  of  the  fact  that  they  were  responsible  beings,  act 
differently?  Would  any  white  people  in  the  world 
similarly  situated  fail  to  act  as  the  blacks  acted  when 
they  found  themselves  suddenly  freed  from  the  re 
straints  of  a  rigorous  and  vindictive  code  ?  I  think 
the  wonder  is,  that  in  all  this  Western  Archipelago 
there  was  a  solitary  freeman  on  the  morning  of  eman 
cipation  willing  to  remain  in  the  same  position  that 
he  filled  as  a  slave  if  it  were  possible  for  him  to  earn 
his  bread  in  any  other  way.  Twenty  years  ago !  Let 
the  reader  reflect  that  it  was  only  twenty  years  ago 
that  these  people  were  degraded,  despised,  besotted  in 
ignorance ;  that  they  were  in  the  same  abject  condi 
tion  that  the  Africans  of  Cuba  occupy  to-day ;  and  if 
he  marvel  not  at  the  change  and  the  contrast  he  will 
marvel  at  nothing.  Where  are  the  people  in  the 
world  who,  in  the  same  space  of  time,  have  made  the 
same  progress  in  civilization  ?  It  is  not  fair  to  select 
those,  be  they  numerous  or  be  they  few,  who  have  been 
unable  as  yet  to  shake  off  the  traditions  of  their  serv- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  45 

itude,  and  who  remain  the  thriftless,  idle  creatures  that 
they  were  in  times  forever  gone  by.  How,  in  the 
name  of  all  that  is  reasonable,  does  this  affect  the  ar 
gument?  how  does  it  prove  that  the  African  is  inca 
pable  of  being  brought  up  to  the  level  of  the  white 
race  ?  When  we  wish  to  illustrate  the  power  and  ca 
pacity  of  the  great  Anglo-Saxon  race  we  do  not  look 
for  our  subjects  in  the  coal-pits  of  England,  but  we 
point  to  her  statesmen,  her  orators,  her  men  of  science, 
her  men  of  art.  I  protest,  then,  against  the  criticism 
which  consigns  to  utter  worthlessness  the  West  In 
dian  Africans  because  a  dozen,  or  twenty,  or  a  hund 
red  good-for-nothing  fellows  lounge  about  the  streets 
of  Bridgetown,  or  because  a  planter  or  a  dozen  plant 
ers  are  annoyed  that  one  or  a  dozen  of  their  laborers 
have  deserted  them  in  their  time  of  need.  The  same 
inconveniences  are  suffered  in  every  free  country 
where  labor  is  scarce;  and  many  a  New  Englancf 
farmer  loses  his  crop  because  he  can  not  obtain  time 
ly  assistance  to  reap  it.  The  only  philosophical  way 
to  determine  the  capabilities  of  the  African  race  is  to 
look  at  those,  and  their  number  exceeds  all  belief, 
who  have  emerged  from  serfdom,  in  spite  of  serious 
obstacles  and  downright  opposition,  to  become  most 
intelligent  and  cultivated  men — men  of  wealth  and  po 
sition,  fully  able  to  appreciate  their  independence  and 
their  rights  of  citizenship.  The  colored  mechanics 
and  artisans  of  Barbados,  I  most  unhesitatingly  assert, 
are  equal  in  general  intelligence  to  the  artisans  and 
mechanics  of  any  race  in  any  part  of  the  world  equal 
ly  remote  from  the  great  centres  of  civilization .  They 
are  now  what  the  peasantry  will  be  as  soon  as  educa 
tion  is  more  generally  diffused.  It  is  impossible  to 


46       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

produce  a  single  man  of  color  in  Barbados,  if  he  can 
boast  of  any  education  at  all,  who  will  answer  to  the 
popular  idea  of  the  negro  character.  That  character, 
as  I  said  before,  is  the  character  of  a  slave,  or  of  a  free 
man  before  he  has  learned  to  work  or  understand  his 
moral  responsibilities.  There  are  many,  doubtless,  in 
such  a  condition  to-day,  but  let  the  blame  be  laid  on 
those  who  merit  the  censure.  Let  the  planting  inter 
est,  which  includes  the  legislators,  the  guardians,  and 
the  absolute  rulers  of  this  island,  be  condemned  for 
their  folly  and  selfishness,  in  that  they  have  made  no 
effort  to  second  the  work  of  emancipation,  but  rather 
have  stood  as  a  stumbling-block  in  the  wa}^,  no  effort 
to  instruct  the  negro  or  teach  him  his  duties  as  a  free 
man,  no  effort  to  conciliate  his  affections  or  command 
his  allegiance,  no  effort  to  elevate  him  socially,  polit 
ically,  or  morally,  but — most  fatal  error! — have  actual 
ly  striven  to  keep  him  in  ignorance  and  servile  de 
pendence.  What  wonder  that,  with  such  a  power  ar 
rayed  against  his  progress,  many  a  peasant  born  a 
slave  should  live  a  freeman  without  appreciating  the 
blessings  purchased  for  him  at  an  unparalleled  cost? 
What  wonder  if  he  be  thriftless,  thoughtless,  indiffer 
ent  about  the  future,  and  only  concerned  in  the  enjoy 
ment  of  the  present  moment?  Is  the  course  that 
ought  to  have  been  pursued  from  the  very  first  any 
longer  to  be  doubted  ?  Emancipate  these  people  from 
ignorance,  give  them  power  to  understand  their  duties 
and  their  rights  as  freemen,  and  we  shall  hear  no  more 
drivel  about  organic  defects  in  their  mental  capacity. 
As  far  as  their  numbers  go,  greatly  deficient  as  I  be 
lieve  these  numbers  to  be  for  the  wants  of  the  colo 
nies,  they  will  form  an  intelligent,  peaceable,  and  in- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  47 

dustrious  portion  of  the  laboring  classes.  I  am  sick 
of  the  statement  so  constantly  and  so  thoughtlessly  re 
peated  that  the  African  won't  work.  This,  of  course, 
is  not  said  of  Barbados,  for  its  labor  market  is  over 
stocked;  but  it  is  said  of  other  islands  where  land 
is  plentiful  and  labor  scarce.  Won't  work  ?  Why 
should  they  work  for  the-  planter,  and  bind  themselves 
to  a  new  tyranny?  Where  is  the  moral  obligation 
that  chains  them  forever  to  the  serfdom  of  estate  la 
bor  ?  Why  should  they  work  for  a  master  when  they 
can  work  more  profitably  for  themselves,  and  enjoy  at 
the  same  time  a  perfect  independence  ?  Why  should 
they  work  for  any  one  who  does  not  take  the  trouble 
to  point  out  a  single  advantage  to  be  gained  in  his 
service?  Would  an  American  work  for  another  on 
any  such  terms?  I  have  shown  that  the  negro  has 
grave  faults  of  character — faults  which,  unchecked, 
must  affect  the  prosperity  of  a  country  in  which  the 
laboring  population  are  of  African  descent ;  but  I  do 
believe  that,  under  a  wiser  system  of  plantation  man 
agement  than  that  practiced  in  most  of  the  colonies, 
and  with  mote  extended  education,  these  faults  would 
be  speedily  eradicated.  I  can  not  doubt  that,  if  the 
governing  classes  in  the  West  Indies  had  pursued  a 
more  liberal  policy  than  they  have  done,  if  they  had 
consulted  in  some  degree  the  interest  and  the  welfare 
of  the  people  upon  whom  their  own  prosperity  large 
ly  depended,  the  success  of  emancipation  at  the  pres 
ent  day  would  be  so  securely  and  so  widely  establish 
ed  that  no  misrepresentation  could  possibly  conceal  it. 
The  condition  of  the  colored  population  of  Barba 
dos  demonstrates,  on  the  whole,  that  they  lack  neither 
industry  nor  natural  intelligence.  The  habit  of  labor, 


48       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

after  all,  is  an  acquired  one ;  and  no  man,  white  or 
black,  will  really  work  where  necessity  does  not  exist. 
I  have  watched  with  great  interest  Barbadian  laborers 
going  to  work,  and  their  light,  elastic  step  and  cheer 
ful  faces  indicate  the  very  opposite  of  lazy  dispositions. 
If  their  moral  progress  falls  short  of  what  the  Aboli 
tionist  would  ask  us  to  believe,  it  is,  doubtless,  owing 
as  much  to  the  want  of  properly  directed  educational 
efforts  as  to  any  other  cause.  The  masses  are  certain 
ly  no  worse  than  they  were  under  slavery;  while 
those  who  had  the  intelligence,  industry,  and  energy 
to  rise,  have  risen  to  positions  of  competence,  independ 
ence,  and  wealth  which  they  never  could  have  attain 
ed  and  enjoyed  under  any  other  than  a  free  system. 


THE  BRITISH   WEST  INDIES.  49 


CHAPTER  V. 

EXPERIENCES  OF  FREE  AND  SLAVE  LABOR  IN  BAR 
BADOS. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

I  HAVE  arg'ued  that  the  question  of  emancipation  in 
the  British  West  Indies,  or  in  Barbados,  which  is  un 
der  special  consideration,  is  a  commercial  question,  and 
must  be  determined  by  a  commercial  standard.  If 
this  be  true,  and  if,  as  I  maintain,  all  other  issues  are 
involved  in  this,  it  is  plain  that  a  faithful  comparison 
between  the  relative  cost  of  free  and  slave  labor,  as 
found  in  Barbados,  will  exhibit  which  of  the  two  sys 
tems  is  best  suited  to  that  island.  If  it  be  cheaper  to 
raise  sugar  in  Barbados  with  free  labor  than  with 
slave  labor,  then  emancipation  in  Barbados  has  been  a 
success.  If  not,  not.  Among  a  multitude  of  estimates 
that  I  have  obtained  on  the  subject  I  select  one  pre 
sented  by  the  governor  of  these  islands.  In  a  letter, 
written  for  publication  and  very  widely  circulated,  his 
excellency  says : 

"As  to  the  relative  cost  of  slave  and  free  labor  in 
this  colony,  I  can  supply  facts  on  which  the  most  im 
plicit  reliance  can  be  placed.  They  have  been  fur 
nished  to  me  by  the  proprietor  of  an  estate  containing 
300  acres  of  land,  and  situated  at  a  distance  of  about 
12  miles  from  the  shipping  port.  The  estate  referred 
to  produced  during  slavery  an  annual  average  of  140 

C 


50       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

hogsheads  of  sugar  of  the  present  weight,  and  required 
230  slaves.  It  is  now  worked  by  90  free  laborers — 
60  adults,  and  30  under  16  years  of  age.  Its  average 
product  during  the  last  seven  years  has  been  194  hhds. 
The  total  cost  of  labor  has  been  £770  16s.,  or  £3  19s. 
2d.  per  hogshead  of  1700  pounds.  The  average  of 
pounds  of  sugar  to  each  laborer  during  slavery  was 
1043  pounds,  and  during  freedom  3660  pounds.  To 
estimate  the  cost  of  slave  labor  the  value  of  230  slaves 
must  be  ascertained ;  and  I  place  them  at  what  would 
have  been  a  low  average — £50  sterling  each — which 
would  make  the  entire  stock  amount-  to  £11,500. 
This  at  6  per  cent,  interest,  which,  on  such  property, 
is  much  too  low  an  estimate,  would  give  £690 ;  cost 
of  clothing,  food,  and  medical  attendance,  I  estimate 
at  £3  10s.,  making  £805.  Total  cost  £1495,  or  £10 
12s.  per  hogshead,  while  the  cost  of  free  labor  on  the 
same  estate  is  "under  £4." 

This,  it  must  be  remembered,  is  a  practical  compar 
ison  between  free  and  slave  labor,  and  not  an  abstract 
estimate  of  the  expenses  of  the  two  systems,  to  be  va 
ried  by  time,  place,  or  circumstance.  It  is  also  a  rea 
sonable  average  of  similar  comparisons  that  might  be 
instituted  on  all  the  estates  of  the  island.  I  might 
easily  multiply  examples ;  but  those  who  would  doubt 
the  fairness  of  the  one  I  have  selected  would  doubt  a 
hundred  others.  I  can  only  say,  on  the  assurance  of 
the  governor  himself,  that  his  statistics  come  from  a 
source  of  unquestioned  reliability,  and,  if  their  applica 
tion  as  an  average  representation  be  denied,  it  must  be 
on  the  ground  that  the  expenses  of  slavery  have  been 
under  -  estimated.  What  Cuban  slaveholder  would 
place  the  average  value  of  his  slaves  at  $250,  and  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  51 

cost  of  clothing,  maintenance,  medical  attendance,  and 
depreciation  at  only  $17  per  annum  ?  James  M  'Queen, 
in  his  "  Statistics  of  the  British  Empire,"  gives  the  act 
ual  cost  of  maintaining  a  slave  in  Barbados  before 
emancipation,  with  interest  on  his  value,  as  £9  10s. 
sterling,  considerably  more  than  the  governor's  esti 
mate,  and  yet,  according  to  the  latter,  field  labor  in 
Barbados  during  slavery  was  two  hundred  and  fifty 
per  cent,  more  expensive  than  it  is  now  under  freedom ! 
The  question,  I  think,  quoad  Barbados,  does  not  ad 
mit  of  an  argument.  Among  the  expenses  of  a  slave 
there  must  be  included  his  food,  clothing,  medical  at 
tendance,  house-rent,  depreciation  at  10  per  cent.,  and 
interest  on  the  capital  sum  invested,  all  of  which  must 
be  paid  for  every  man,  woman,  and  child  on  an  estate, 
in  fair  weather  or  in  foul,  in  sickness  or  in  health ; 
and  I  have  before  me  a  variety  of  statistics  which 
show  that  at  least  thirty  per  cent,  of  the  slaves  must, 
on  an  average,  be  regarded  as  non-effective.  The 
West  India  planters  themselves,  long  before  emanci 
pation,  claimed  protection  for  their  sugar  on  the 
ground  that  it  could  only  be  produced  at  an  extrava 
gant  cost,  and  they  represented  as  one  of  their  heavi 
est  burdens  that  30  and  even  40  per  cent,  must  be  al 
lowed  for  non-effective  slaves.  Their  evidence  is 
upon  record,  and  can  be  seen  on  reference  to  the  Par 
liamentary  blue-books  of  the  day.  Under  the  free 
system  every  laborer  employed  is  necessarily  an  ef 
fective  one,  and  his  cost,  according  to  the  prevailing 
rate  of  wages  in  Barbados,  is  less  than  25  cents  a  day. 
In  the  estimate  that  I  have  quoted  above,  it  is  demon 
strated  that  the  Barbadian  laborer  who  works  by  the 
task,  which  he  can  complete  in  six  hours,  does  as  much 


52       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

in  that  space  of  time  as  the  slave  did  in  his  twelve 
hours'  forced  work ;  but  admitting,  for  the  sake  of  ar 
gument,  and  against  direct  evidence  to  the  contrary, 
that  they  worked  alike,  or  even  that  the  slave  under 
compulsion  worked  better  than  the  free  man  in  his 
independence,  there  would  still  be  a  large  margin  in 
favor  of  freedom,  as  the  more  economical  system -of  the 
two.  This  the  Barbadian  planter  has  learnt  by  expe 
rience.  He  admits  it  readily,  and  if  he  did  not  admit 
it  there  is  practical  evidence  of  its  truth  in  the  fact 
that  agricultural  land  in  Barbados  will  bring  at  this 
moment  double  what  it  brought  under  slavery,  and 
infinitely  more  than  land  brings  in  Cuba.  Is  it  com 
mon  sense  to  suppose  that  every  acre  of  Barbadian 
ground — confessedly  poor  in  comparison  with  the  rich 
virgin  soil  of  Cuba — that  every  available  acre  would 
be  occupied  (as  it  is),  and  would  estates  be  greedily 
purchased  at  extravagant  prices  (as  they  are),  if  the 
production  of  sugar  with  free  labor  was  an  unprofita 
ble  business  ?  I  have  stated  it  as  a  fact,  of  which  any 
one  may  convince  himself,  that  of  the  106,000  acres 
in  Barbados  100,000  are  under  cultivation.  Schom- 
berg,  who  wrote  in  1845,  says  that  there  were  40,000 
acres  planted  in  sugar-cane ;  and  Davy,  who  wrote  in 
1854,  has  evidently  borrowed  his  predecessor's  figures. 
I  think  that  they  are  an  exaggeration.  According  to 
the  best  estimates  that  I  have  been  able  to  procure, 
there  are  not  more  than  25,000  acres  of  cane  reaped 
annually  in  Barbados,  and  the  Agricultural  Reporter,  a 
monthly  periodical  published  in  Bridgetown,  placed 
the  number  in  1853  at  23,333.  But  we  may  suppose 
that  25,000  acres  are  as  near  the  truth  as  it  is  possible 
to  get.  Keeping  this  in  view,  we  find,  upon  examina- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  53 

tion,  that  the  average  yearly  importation  of  guano 
during  the  past  five  years  has  amounted  in  round 
numbers  to  $250,000,  which  would  allow,  for  foreign 
manuring  alone,  about  $10  an  acre.  This  certainly 
does  not  indicate  that  the  land  is  naturally  very  rich, 
and  yet  the  price  it  brings  is  most  astonishing.  Gov 
ernor  Hincks,  in  the  letter  from  which  I  have  already 
quoted,  has  selected  an  estate  which,  he  says,  gives  a 
fair  idea  of  the  increased  value  of  land  on  the  island. 
The  property  in  question,  composed  of  300  acres,  was 
worth  £50  an  acre  during  slavery,  or  a  total  of 
£15,000  sterling.  The  value  of  the  slaves  is  esti 
mated  at  £11,500 — the  sum  that  the  proprietor  re 
ceived  for  them  at  the  time  of  emancipation.  After 
compensation  had  been  given  this  very  estate  was  sold 
for  £15,000,  and  was  purchased  by  the  present  pro 
prietor  a  few  years  ago  for  £30,000,  or  about  $500  an 
acre.  This,  I  can  certify,  is  by  no  means  an  unusual 
price  for  land;  for  only  recently  an  estate  of  110 
acres  was  bought  for  £14,000  sterling,  which  the  pur 
chaser  himself  had  sold  three  years  before  for  £9000. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  this  land  was  not  bought 
on  a  speculation,  but  purely  and  simply  for  agricul 
tural  purposes.  After  informing  himself  of  these 
prices,  and  of  the  further  great  expense  of  manuring 
before  the  cane  can  be  successfully  cultivated  in  Bar 
bados,  a  stranger  naturally  asks  why  capitalists  are  so 
ready  to  purchase.  There  is  only  one  answer.  The 
profits  of  sugar-growing  with  free  labor  are  amply  re 
munerative,  and  were  never  more  so  than  they  are  at 
present. 

This  brings  me  to  the  consideration  of  an  impor 
tant  argument,  used  by  those  very  few  British  "West 


54:       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

Indians  who  still  fancy  that  slave  labor  in  Barbados 
would  be  cheaper  than  free.  It  is  urged,  and  truly, 
that  when  the  duties  were  removed  by  the  imperial 
Parliament  from  Cuban  and  other  slave-grown  sugars, 
the  Barbadian  planter  complained  that  he  was  unable 
to  compete  with  the  foreign  producer.  I  think  that 
a  simple  quotation  of  late  sales  of  real  estate  in  Bar 
bados  is,  of  itself,  a  pretty  strong  proof  that  the  com 
plaints  of  the  Barbadian  planter  were  unfounded,  and 
that,  in  reality,  he  could  compete,  and  does  compete,  on 
equal  terms  with  the  foreign  producer  in  the  British 
market.  But  allowing  the  complaint  to  be  just  and 
the  representation  true — supposing  that  the  Cuban  does 
raise  sugar  cheaper  than  the  Barbadian  can — it  is  an 
erroneous  inference  that  slave  labor  should,  therefore, 
be  more  economical  than  free  labor.  Labor  is  not  the 
only  expense  in  the  growth  of  sugar.  There  are  the 
expenses  of  management,  manure,  machinery,  and  the 
interest  on  the  value  of  the  land,  as  well  as  the  ex 
pense  of  labor.  Now  it  is  a  fact  which  needs  no  dem 
onstration,  that  while  land  in  Barbados  costs  $500  an 
acre,  land  in  Cuba  costs  only  §100 ;  that  while  ma 
nure  in  Barbados  costs  §10  an  acre,  in  Cuba  none  is 
required ;  that  while,  in  Barbados,  the  canes  must  be 
planted  every  season,  the  land  in  Cuba  is  so  rich  that 
the  process  of  ratooning  can  be  carried  on  for  many 
years  in  succession  with  the  smallest  amount  of  work. 
These,  and  not  the  superior  economy  of  his  slave  la 
bor,  have  enabled  the  Cuban  planter  to  undersell  his 
Barbadian  rival  in  the  British  market.  In  the  rich 
ness  of  his  soil  the  Cuban  planter  has  an  advantage 
that  enables  him  to  pay  an  extravagant  price  for  la 
bor,  and  that  he  does  pay  an  extravagant  price  we 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  55 

know  full  well.  It  is  a  matter  of  common  report  that 
the  average  life  of  a  field  laborer  on  a  Cuban  estate  is 
not  over  ten  years ;  but  this  is  not  regarded  by  the 
planter  as  any  great  misfortune,  with  the  slave-trade 
in  full  operation.  Supposing  the  value  of  a  Cuban 
slave  to  be  $1000,  his  depreciation  under  the  terrible 
work  to  which  he  is  subjected  will  amount  to  ten  per 
cent.,  or  $100  per  annum ;  add  to  this  the  interest  of 
capital,  the  expenses  of  maintenance,  and  the  loss  by 
non-effective  laborers,  and  the  cost  to  the  Cuban  pro 
prietor  for  each  of  his  slaves  will  be  found  to  average, 
at  the  very  lowest  estimate,  $180  per  annum.  If  we 
take  another  mode  of  arriving  at  the  same  conclusion, 
we  find  this  figure  to  be  considerably  under  the  mark. 
Those  planters,  for  instance,  who  hire  slaves,  have  to 
pay  $25  a  month  to  their  owners,  and  to  feed  and 
clothe  the  laborers  besides.  The  amount  paid  for  hire 
will  then  be  $300  per  annum,  and,  estimating  the  cost 
of  maintenance  at  $35  more,  we  arrive  at  a  total  of 
$335  a  year  as  the  actual  expense  per  man  to  the  Cu 
ban  planter  who  hires  labor  for  his  estate.  Now,  the 
cost  of  a  Barbadian  free  laborer  is  only  $75  a  year. 
He  receives  in  this  island  25  cents  a  day,  or  rather  a 
task,  and  he  finds  that  ample  in  such  a  climate  to 
supply  all  his  wants.  If  he  is  unusually  ambitious 
and  industrious,  as  I  have  shown  in  a  former  letter 
that  many  of  them  are,  he  will  often  perform  his  two 
tasks  per  diem,  and  in  the  course  of  time  will  rise,  as 
many  have  done,  to  positions  of  wealth,  influence, 
and  independence. 

The  most  formidable  cry  that  the  "West  India  pro 
prietary  have  raised  under  emancipation  is  want  of 
labor.  The  evil  never  existed  in  Barbados,  and  this, 


56       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

perhaps,  may  be  regarded  as  the  first  cause  of  her  un 
checked  prosperity.  But  in  the  other  islands  where 
negroes  have  left  the  estates,  I  am  perfectly  convinced 
and  can  prove  that,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  want  of 
capital,  heavy  encumbrances  incurred  during  slavery, 
and  a  mistaken  policy  which  obstinately  refused  any 
inducement  to  the  laborer  to  remain  on  the  soil,  are 
the  prime  causes  of  desertion.  In  these  islands,  where 
land  is  cheap  and  abundant,  the  negroes,  acting  as 
Englishmen  or  Americans  similarly  situated  would, 
have  become  small  proprietors  whenever  and  wher 
ever  they  could,  preferring  an  independent  to  a  serv 
ile  position,  diminishing  thereby,  it  is  true,  the  supply 
of  labor,  but  exhibiting  themselves  to  be  an  industri 
ous  rather  than  an  indolent  people.  While,  therefore, 
many  an  old  estate  has  been  abandoned,  we  find  at 
the  same  time  a  vast  increase  of  small  proprietors  ; 
and  insufficiency  of  labor,  the  want  in  all  new  coun 
tries,  follows  as  a  matter  of  course.  I  do  not  doubt 
that  there  has  been  a  want  of  labor  in  all  the  colonies 
except  Barbados ;  I  do  not  doubt  that  that  want  ex 
plains,  in  some  degree,  the  diminution  of  sugar  ex 
ports;  but  the  fault  and  the  folly  lie  at  the  door  of 
the  planter,  and  may  be  traced  to  his  blindness  and 
his  extravagance.  But,  whatever  the  cause,  if  there 
be  in  reality  a  deficiency  of  labor,  if  labor  is  all  that 
is  necessary  to  raise  the  West  India  colonies  to  a  loft 
ier  position  than  any  they  have  hitherto  occupied,  I 
do  not  think  that  the  regulation  of  a  proper  demand 
and  supply  should  be  left  to  time  or  to  chance.  Gov 
ernor  Hincks  is  of  opinion  that  there  is  a  sufficiency 
of  labor  in  many  of  the  colonies,  and  that  the  resort 
to  indiscriminate  Coolie  immigration  is  unnecessary 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  57 

and  uncalled  for.  He  thinks  that  this,  next  to  slav 
ery,  is  the  most  expensive  kind  of  labor ;  one  which 
it  is  impolitic  to  encourage  when  Creole  labor  can  be 
procured  by  the  inducements  of  higher  wages  and  a 
more  liberal  tenure.  The  governor  advises  that  the 
labor  question  in  the  islands  should  be  left  to  work 
itself  out,  which  he  believes  it  would  in  one  of  the 
three  following  ways :  first,  that  the  planter  would  be 
obliged  to  increase  the  laborer's  rate  of  wages,  which 
he  could  afford  to  do  in  all  the  colonies  except  Barba 
dos  ;  or,  secondly,  that  the  planter  would  have  to 
adopt  the  Metairie  system,  that  is,  to  divide  the  profits 
with  his  laborer — a  system  that  has  been  successfully 
worked  in  St.  Lucia  and  Tobago,  and  is  not  unknown 
in  the  United  States ;  or,  thirdly,  that  the  planter,  who 
is  now  both  agriculturist  and  manufacturer,  would 
have  to  confine  himself  to  manufacturing,  for  which  he 
is  better  fitted  by  education  and  experience.  These 
opinions,  coming  from  such  a  source,  must  not  be 
thrown  aside  as  mere  speculations,  for  they  are  the 
result  of  a  very  extended  experience.  As,  however, 
they  have  no  reference  to  Barbados,  but  only  to  those 
colonies  which  have  imported  large  quantities  of  Asi 
atic  Coolies  under  government  supervision,  they  have 
only  a  general  bearing  on  the  subject  which  I  have 
undertaken  in  this  chapter  to  discuss. 

I  have  instituted  a  comparison  between  free  and 
slave  labor  in  Barbados,  where,  under  both  systems, 
labor  was  necessarily  abundant,  and  I  deem  it  estab 
lished  that  free  labor  is  the  cheaper  of  the  two.  But 
it  would  be  unfair  and  illogical,  from  these  premises, 
to  draw  any  conclusions  as  to  the  cost  of  free  and 
slave  labor  in  the  United  States.  The  island  of  Bar- 
C2 


58       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

bados,  with  its  overstocked  and  imprisoned  popula 
tion,  compelled  to  work  on  such  terms  as  the  planters 
may  dictate,  has  nothing  in  common  with  the  slave 
states  of  the  American  Union,  and  an  unbounded  terri 
tory  adjoining,  to  which  the  liberated  classes,  were  their 
liberation  within  the  bounds  of  possibility,  would  im 
mediately  resort.  With  as  little  prejudice  as  possible 
I  have  endeavored  to  explain,  in  a  summary  way,  what 
I  have  learned  during  a  residence  on  the  island ;  and 
while  it  appears,  after  comparing  the  two  systems,  that 
free  labor  in  Barbados  is  cheaper  than  slave  labor,  the 
same  result  can,  with  still  greater  force,  be  shown  by 
the  improvement  since  emancipation  in  Barbadian 
commerce,  and  in  all  other  branches  of  material  pros 
perity. 


THE   BRITISH   WEST   INDIES.  59 


CHAPTER  VI. 

COMMERCE  AXD  PROSPERITY  OF  BARBADOS. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

IT  requires  no  deep  scrutiny  to  discover  that  the 
commerce  of  Barbados  is  much  more  extensive  and 
much  more  flourishing  under  free  labor  than  it  was 
under  slave  labor,  and  as  any  general  statistical  work 
will  demonstrate  this  fact,  I  need  not  occupy  much 
space  with  particulars.  I  am  not  going  to  assert  that 
the  increased  prosperity  of  Barbados  is  solely  due  to 
emancipation ;  some  credit  must  undoubtedly  be  given 
to  improvements  in  agricultural  science  and  economy 
of  labor.  But  these  improvements  are  very  inferior 
to  those  which  have  marked  the  progress  of  the  plant 
ing  interest  in  the  United  States  during  the  past  thir 
ty  years.  The  Barbadian,  after  long  hesitation,  has  at 
length  introduced  the  plow,  though  some  few  fogies, 
as  fossiliferous  as  their  own  rock,  still  question  the 
safety  of  the  innovation.  Out  of  some  five  or  six 
thousand  mills  on  the  island  there  are  not  over  a  doz 
en  propelled  by  steam;  and  when  it  is  remembered 
that  steam  power,  from  its  greater  certainty,  makes  a 
favorable  difference  in  a  sugar  crop  of  ten  or  fifteen 
per  cent.,  it  can  not  be  said  that  science  has  lent  all  her 
aid  to  the  increase  of  Barbadian  products.  Nor  can  it 
be  urged  that  there  is  a  larger  extent  of  land  under 
cultivation,  for,  in  this  respect,  Barbados  has  under- 


60       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

gone  no  material  change  within  the  past  half  century. 
The  number  of  acres  in  sugar-cane  is  probably  less 
than  it  was  thirty  years  ago.  I  have  estimated  them, 
upon  good  authority,  at  25,000  ;  and  though  I  can  ob 
tain  no  statistics  on  the  subject,  there  is  reason  to  be 
lieve  that  when  the  island  was  owned  exclusively  by 
large  proprietors,  whose  sole  object  was  to  make  mon 
ey  with  the  great  staple  product,  there  were  more  cane- 
fields  in  cultivation  than  there  are  now,  when  small 
proprietors,  holding  less  than  five  acres,  and  who  grow 
their  own  articles  of  consumption,  have  increased  three 
hundred  per  cent. 

Again,  it  can  not  be  argued  that  an  increased  pop 
ulation  has  been  the  cause  of  an  increased  production 
of  sugar.  The  last  census  of  the  island,  taken  in  1851, 
gives  the  population  of  Barbados  as  135,939,  of  whom 
15,824  were  whites,  30,059  were  colored  or  half-castes, 
and  90,056  were  negroes.  Of  this  number,  20,000, 
nearly  all  blacks  or  colored,  are  supposed  to  have  died 
of  cholera  in  1854,  and,  making  an  allowance  for  this 
and  for  a  slight  emigration  to  adjacent  islands,  it  is 
fair  to  estimate  the  present  population  of  Barbados  at 
140,000  souls.  For  all  purposes  of  statistical  science 
the  census  of  1844  and  that  of  1851  are  deplorably 
deficient.  In  the  former,  for  fear  of  giving  offense, 
there  was  no  distinction  made  between  the  whites  and 
blacks ;  in  the  latter  there  are  no  distinctions  of  trade, 
profession,  or  pursuit.  I  am  unable,  therefore,  to  as 
certain  accurately  what  it  is  important  to  know — the 
exact  laboring  force  of  the  island.  The  census  of  1844 
puts  down  laborers  above  18,  male  and  female,  at 
30,005 ;  persons  above  18,  male  and  female,  and  em 
ployed  in  trade,  28,125 ;  persons  above  18,  and  hav- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  61 

ing  no  employment,  8956,  and  children  under  18  years 
55,112.  Making  these  figures  the  basis  of  an  estimate 
for  the  present  year,  I  should  say  that  there  are,  in 
round  numbers,  124,000  black  and  colored  people  in 
Barbados  who  may  thus  be  classified :  55,000  under 
the  age  of  18 ;  25,000  employed  in  trade,  22,000  field 
laborers,  and  about  as  many  engaged  in  domestic  and 
other  subordinate  occupations — leaving  a  white  popu 
lation  of  some  16,000  souls.  There  has  been  a  great 
increase  since  1838  of  persons  engaged  in  trade  and 
mechanical  arts,  causing  a  large  deficiency  of  field  la 
bor,  which,  under  slavery,  was  estimated  at  77,000  in 
1817,  78,000  in  1823,  80,000  in  1830,  and  81,000  in 
1832.  These  figures  included  children,  who,  in  the  es 
timate  of  a  planter's  expenses,  had  to  be  ranked  at  so 
much  per  capita  with  adults;  but,  deducting  them 
from  the  laboring  population  for  the  purpose  of  this 
argument,  it  will  be  seen  that  there  is  a  very  material 
difference  between  the  available  field  force  of  Barba 
dos  to-day  and  its  field  force  before  emancipation.  If, 
then,  Barbados,  with  a  diminished  laboring  force  and 
the  same  amount  of  land  under  cultivation,  produces 
more  now  than  she  ever  did  before,  what  is  the  cause 
of  the  improvement  ?  In  spite  of  all  drawbacks  this 
island  exported  last  year  twice  as  much  as  she  did  in 
any  year  from  the  period  of  her  first  settlement  down 
to  the  day  of  emancipation.  Judging  Barbados  by 
herself,  without  reference  to  any  other  island  or  coun 
try  whatsoever,  I  can  imagine,  or  conceive,  or  give  no 
other  explanation  of  her  increased  and  increasing  re 
sources  than  the  adoption  of  a  cheaper  system  of  la 
bor  in  the  production  of  her  great  staple.  And  if  it 
be  urged  that  the  negro  in  Barbados  has  been  driven 


62       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

by  force  of  circumstances  to  work  for  his  daily  bread 
(though  the  statement  is  only  partly  true,  it  may  be 
admitted  for  the  sake  of  argument),  practical  observa 
tion  as  well  as  statistical  returns  alike  show  that,  un 
der  emancipation,  his  labor  is  far  more  valuable  to 
the  proprietor  and  the  country  than  it  was  under 
slavery. 

In  the  year  1830  Barbados  exported  22,769  hhcls. 
of  sugar,  and  in  1834 — the  year  of  abolition — she  ex 
ported  27,318  hhds.,  the  largest  crop  ever  recorded 
under  slavery.  But  in  an  island  like  Barbados,  where 
trade,  owing  to  hurricanes,  and  unfavorable  weather 
for  crops,  has  fluctuated  very  much,  it  is  scarcely  fair 
to  judge  of  its  improvement  by  a  comparison  of  par 
ticular  seasons.  I  prefer  to  take  an  average  of  sugar 
exportations,  which  from  1720  to  1800  was  23,000 
hhds.  per  annum,  and  from  1800  to  1830  was  20,000 
hhds.,  showing  a  decline  under  slavery  of  3000  hhds., 
a  decline  apparent  at  the  time  in  most  of  the  West 
India  colonies,  and  to  be  attributed,  as  I  have  explain 
ed  in  a  former  chapter,  to  the  large  hypothecation  on 
landed  property. 

Let  us  now  look  at  the  Barbados  sugar  exportations 
of  the  present  day,  premising  with  the  observation  that 
from  1826  to  1830  the  average  weight  of  a  hogshead 
of  sugar  was  12  cwt. ;  from  1830  to  1850, 14  cwt,  and 
is  now  from  15  to  16  and  even  17  cwt.  With  this  dif 
ference  of  weight  against  her,  Barbados  exported,  in 
1852,  48,610  hhds.;  in  1853,  38,316  hhds.;  in  1854, 
44,492  hhds.;  in  1855,  39,692  hhds.;  in  1856,  43,552 
hhds.;  in  1857, 38,858  hhds.;  and  in  1858, 50, 778  hhds., 
or  nearly  double  what  she  exported  during  the  most 
favorable  year  of  slavery !  I  find,  upon  examination, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  63 

that  the  average  of  Barbadian  sugar  exportation  from 
1835  to  1850,  including  the  wretched  ordeal  of  ap 
prenticeship,  was  26,000  hhds.,  and  from  1851  to  1858, 
43,000  hhds.,  against  20,000  hhds.  of  an  inferior  weight 
during  the  first  thirty  years  of  the  present  century. 
The  exportations  of  molasses  are  in  the  same  propor 
tion,  with  this  difference,  that  while  nine  tenths  of  the 
sugar  go  to  Great  Britain,  more  than  one  half  of  the 
molasses  now  goes  to  the  United  States.  It  must  be  re 
membered  that  this  immense  sugar-crop  comes  from 
about  one  fourth  of  the  land  under  cultivation.  I 
have  no  statistics  in  regard  to  other  productions,  but 
the  average  exportation  of  miscellaneous  articles  of 
native  growth  may  be  valued  at  £20,000  sterling  per 
annum,  and  the  inference  is  that  a  considerable  por 
tion  of  the  island,  and  especially  the  lots  owned  by 
the  laboring  population,  are  grown  in  articles  of  food 
for  home  consumption.  I  have  seen  large  and  prom 
ising  fields  of  Guinea  and  Indian  corn,  but  the  pastur 
age  is  necessarily  poor,  and  will  not  bear  comparison 
with  ours.  Sweet  potatoes,  eddoes,  yams,  pigeon-peas, 
the  cassava-root,  and  other  vegetables  are  extensively 
cultivated. 

Turning  now  to  the  imports,  I  find  that  their  av 
erage  annual  value  from  1822  to  1832  was  about 
£600,000  sterling.  In  1845  the  imports  amounted  in 
value  to  £682,358,  and  in  1856  to  £840,000,  of  which 
about  £640,000  were  consumed  in  the  island.  But  a 
comparison  between  the  value  of  imports  now  and 
their  value  when  prices  were  very  different  is  mani 
festly  an  unjust  one.  A  fairer  test  may  be  found  in 
the  shipping  returns.  In  the  year  1832  the  largest 
number  of  vessels  entered  Barbados  under  the  slaverv 


64      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

regime,  and  amounted  in  all  to  689  vessels,  of  79,000 
tons.  In  1856 — I  select  the  year  at  random — 966 
vessels,  of  114,800  tons,  were  entered,  and  this  may  be 
taken  as  an  average  of  the  last  eight  years.  The 
character  of  the  imports  deserves  special  consideration. 
About  one  half  are  articles  of  food,  including  groceries, 
wines,  and  liquors.  The  other  half  is  composed  of 
manufactured  articles,  lumber,  and  guano.  For  the 
last  century,  with  some  slight  exception,  Barbados  has 
imported  food  for  her  laboring  classes  from  the  United 
States,  and  the  course  of  trade  in  this  respect  remains 
unchanged.  Such  statistics  as  are  within  our  reach, 
and  they  are  scanty  enough,  show  a  remarkable  in 
crease  in  the  different  branches  of  Barbadian  com 
merce  with  America.  In  1854  Barbados  imported 
36,414  barrels  of  flour,  1500  of  beef,  9438  of  pork,  and 
49,106  of  meal.  In  1858  she  imported  79,766  barrels 
of  flour,  2646  of  beef,  12,196  of  pork,  and  67,053  of 
meal.  Other  articles  of  food  imported  from  the  United 
States  bear  the  same  proportionate  increase.  While 
under  slavery  American  importations  did  not  exceed 
in  value  £60,000  per  annum,  they  now  average  five 
and  six  times  that  amount.  As  an  illustration  I  se 
lect  again  the  imports  of  the  year  1856,  having  the 
figures  before  me.  The  value  of  breadstuffs  and  food 
imported  that  year  from  the  United  States  amounted 
to  more  than  £200,000  ;  of  manufactured  articles,  to 
£70,000;  of  lumber  and  wood  goods,  to  £20,000;  and 
of  horses  and  mules,  to  £6000,  besides  minor  articles. 
The  fact,  then,  that  all  the  American  importations 
have  greatly  increased,  that  they  are  required  by  the 
masses,  as  their  nature  indicates,  and  that  they  are  ob 
tained  at  much  cheaper  rates  than  if  brought  from  Eu- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  65 

rope,  as  they  formerly  were,  are  so  many  arguments 
in  favor  of  the  prosperity  of  Barbados,  and  of  the  im 
proved  condition  of  her  laboring  population. 

Before  I  leave  this  subject,  there  is  an  existing 
anomaly  in  the  trade  with  the  United  States  which 
requires  explanation.  It  is  a  mutter  of  complaint  that 
American  merchants,  who  export  so  largely  to  Barba 
dos,  receive  money,  and  not  the  staple  of  the  country, 
in  return.  Their  ships  have  to  leave  the  island  in 
ballast  and  look  elsewhere  for  a  cargo  on  the  home 
voyage ;  and  so  true  is  this  that,  out  of  an  average  of 
200  American  vessels  which  annually  enter  the  port 
of  Bridgetown,  not  more  than  forty  clear  with  cargoes 
for  the  United  States.  I  have  before  me  a  dispatch 
from  the  governor  of  these  islands  to  the  colonial 
secretary,  in  which  this  anomaly  is  explained ;  and  it 
is  shown  conclusively  that  the  Americans  are  com 
pelled  by  the  Barbadians  themselves  to -take  money 
for  their  goods,  and  to  purchase  their  sugars  in  Porto 
Kico  or  Cuba.  The  sugar-producers  in  Barbados  are 
divided  into  three  classes :  First,  non-resident  proprie 
tors  with  unencumbered  estates,  who  have  sole  control 
of  their  produce ;  second,  resident  and  non-resident 
proprietors  whose  estates  are  encumbered,  and  their 
produce  shipped  through  mortgagees ;  and  third,  resi 
dent  proprietors  whose  estates  are  free.  The  first 
class,  which  is  very  small,  never  offer  their  sugars  for 
sale  in  Barbados.  The  produce  is  shipped  to  agents 
in  England,  and  it  is  very  clear  that  these  proprietors 
can  not  complain  that  Americans  do  not  purchase 
what  they  themselves  will  not  sell.  The  second  class, 
which  is  by  far  the  largest  of  the  three,  can  not  sell  in 
Barbados  if  they  would,  for  their  crops  must  be  deliv- 


66       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ered  to  the  mortgagees,  and  are  also  sold  in  England. 
The  third  class,  which  is  the  smallest  of  all,  are  indeed 
at  liberty  to  sell  to  whom  they  please ;  but  even  they 
are  reluctant  to  offer  their  staple  in  the  Barbados 
market,  especially  when  there  is  the  slightest  chance 
of  a  rise  in  price.  So  far  from  Americans  being  in 
disposed  to  take  Barbados  sugar,  it  is  a  fact  that  they 
mill  take  it,  and  do  take  it,  whenever  they  can  get  it. 
There  is  only  one  class  of  proprietors  from  whom  they 
can  possibly  purchase — the  resident  proprietors  with 
unencumbered  estates — and  this  class  bears  a  small 
proportion  to  the  whole.  Yet  a  commencement  has 
been  made  in  this  branch  of  trade  with  the  United 
States.  Prior  to  1855  the  value  of  Barbadian  sugar 
exported  to  the  United  States  was  insignificant,  but  in 
that  year  it  amounted  to  £8865;  in  1856  it  amounted 
to  £46,000;  in  1857  to  £55,000,  and  in  1858  to  over 
£60,000  sterling. 

There  is  very  little  doubt,  and  it  can  not  be  intelli 
gently  questioned,  that  Barbados,  under  the  regime  of 
slavery,  never  approached  her  present  prosperous  con 
dition  ;  and,  in  comparing  the  present  with  the  past, 
whether  that  comparison  be  made  in  her  commercial, 
mechanical,  agricultural,  industrial,  or  educational  sta 
tus,  I  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion  than  that  the 
island  offers  a  striking  example  of  the  superior  econo 
my  of  the  free  system. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  67 


CHAPTER  VII. 

SOCIAL  DISTINCTIONS  IN  BARBADOS. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

THERE  are  peculiarities  in  the  social  condition  of 
the  Barbadian  people,  which,  in  discussing  the  results 
of  emancipation,  merit  some  consideration.  I  have 
spoken,  in  a  former  chapter,  of  three  classes — the 
white,  the  half-caste,  and  the  black — and  while  the 
first  and  the  last,  the  lords  of  the  soil  and  the  serfs, 
have  practically  retained  the  positions  they  always 
occupied,  the  half-castes,  or  middle  class — the  proge 
ny  of  the  other  two — have  multiplied  and  strength 
ened  under  freedom,  and  promise  to  secure  for  them 
selves,  sooner  or  later,  the  political  preponderance 
now  so  jealously  guarded  by  the  dominant  race.  The 
mulatto  people  are  wonderfully  suited  to  the  climate. 
Being  endowed  with  an  energy  that  white  people  do 
not  possess  in  tropical  countries,  and  with  an  intelli 
gence  capable  of  the  very  highest  development,  I  be 
lieve  that  their  ultimate  ascendency  is  only  a  question 
of  time. 

The  distinctions  of  caste  are  more  strictly  observed 
in  Barbados  than  in  any  other  British  West  India 
colony.  No  person,  male  or  female,  with  the  slight 
est  taint  of  African  blood,  is  admitted  to  white  so 
ciety.  No  matter  what  the  standing  of  a  father,  his 
influence  can  not  secure  for  his  colored  offspring  the 


68      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  1ST 

social  status  that  he  himself  occupies ;  and  the  rule  is 
more  rigidly  carried  out  among  women  than  it  is 
among  men.  The  amalgamation  of  the  two  races  is 
nevertheless  very  general,  and  illicit  intercourse  is 
sanctioned,  or  at  least  winked  at,  by  a  society  which 
utterly  condemns  and  abhors  a  marriage  between  two 
people  of  different  color.  There  are  cases,  it  is  true, 
where  white  people  have  intermarried  with  mulattoes, 
but  they  are  rare,  and  I  know  of  none  where  the 
white  is  a  born  Barbadian.  A  white  man  who  mar 
ries  a  half-caste  is  nearly  always  an  Englishman,  who 
comes  to  the  West  Indies  with  little  or  no  prejudice 
against  the  race,  and  is  ignorant  of  the  unanimous  feel 
ing  that,  on  this  subject,  secretly  pervades  the  whole 
of  Barbadian  society.  But  it  is  not  color  alone  that 
creates  the  liae  of  demarkation — the  gulf,  impassable 
to  those  whose  judgment  and  personal  actions  are 
swayed  and  guided  by  public  opinion.  The  lineage 
of  every  person  on  the  island  is  known,  and  remote 
descent  from  an  African  ancestor  makes  some  un 
happy  creature  a  pariah  from  the  little  world  of  Bar 
bados.  It  would,  of  course,  be  improper  to  illustrate 
the  assertion  by  example ;  but  instances  are  not  want 
ing  where  people  of  both  sexes,  without  the  faintest 
trace  of  color,  with  the  Saxon  form  and  features  of 
one  parent  strikingly  predominant,  and  with  all  the 
advantages  that  a  most  liberal  education  can  bestow, 
are  still  shut  out  from  the  society  of  those  who  belong 
exclusively  to  the  superior  race. 

The  amalgamation  of  the  African  and  Anglo-Saxon, 
and  the  exclusiveness  of  the  latter,  have  thus  com 
bined  to  build  up  the  half-castes,  and  make  them 
somewhat  of  a  distinct  people — a  people  neither  Afri- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST   INDIES.  69 

can  nor  European,  but  more  properly  West  Indian. 
This  class — the  middle  class — is  already  very  large 
and  intelligent,  and  is  rapidly  increasing.  It  is  com 
posed  of  small  landed  proprietors,  of  business  men, 
clerks  in  public  and  private  establishments,  editors, 
tradesmen,  and  mechanics.  Shut  out  from  the  whites, 
on  the  one  hand,  who  will  not  admit  them  to  their  so 
ciety,  and  from  the  blacks  on  the  other,  to  whom  they 
are  immeasurably  superior,  they,  nevertheless,  are  con 
stantly  receiving  accessions  from  the  ranks  of  both. 
Their  political  sympathies  are,  of  course,  with  the 
black  population ;  for  between  the  mulattoes  and  the 
blacks  there  is  not  the  same  gulf  fixed  that  there  is 
between  the  mulattoes  and  the  whites.  In  the  former 
case,  it  is  possible  to  rise  from  the  lowest  class  to  the 
middle  class,  but  it  is  utterly  impossible  to  rise  from 
the  middle  to  the  highest.  The  very  fact  that  the 
half-castes,  with  more  than  the  sensitiveness  of  Eu 
ropeans,  have  to  bear  all  the  indignities  that  are  heap 
ed  upon  the  African  race,  makes  them  bitter  against 
the  dominant  few ;  and,  as  they  increase  in  numbers 
and  acquire  more  and  more  political  and  moral  influ 
ence  in  the  community  to  direct  and  control,  as  they 
can  even  now  direct  and  control  the  desires,  passions, 
and  aspirations  of  the  entire  colored  population,  they 
assume  formidable  proportions  as  a  party  which,  soon 
er  or  later,  must  be  conciliated  and  appeased.  These 
half-castes,  inheriting  the  intellectual  power  and  force 
of  the  white  race  and  the  passions  of  the  black,  must 
eventually  present  a  successful  opposition  to  the  ex 
isting  anomalies  of  government;  must  break  down 
the  plantocratic  oligarchy,  and  obtain  for  themselves 
political  equality,  if  not  political  ascendency.  It  is  a 


70       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOK  IN 

result  of  emancipation  still  to  be  worked  out.  It  is  a 
necessary  consequence  of  the  original  grant  of  free 
dom,  that  these  people,  now  that  they  fully  under 
stand  and  appreciate  what  freedom  is,  should  possess 
all  the  rights  of  freemen,  and  especially  the  right  of 
voting.  They  will  insist  upon  being  fully  represent 
ed  in  the  Legislature,  and  they  will  be  satisfied  with 
nothing  less.  The  social  problem  is  one  more  difficult 
of  solution ;  and  as  long  as  it  remains  unsolved — as 
long  as  a  colored  man  is  made  to  understand  that,  in 
spite  of  his  equal  intelligence,  education,  refinement, 
and  wealth,  he  is  still  regarded  by  the  white  as  an  in 
ferior,  the  worst  possible  feeling  must  exist  between 
the  two.  That  feeling  must  gain  strength  as  the  mu- 
lattoes  increase  in  numbers,  influence,  and  general  in 
telligence.  It  would  be  hard  to  say  that,  to  remedy 
this  evil,  the  whites,  as  the  minority,  should  yield  up 
their  so-called  prejudices.  Those  prejudices  can  not 
excite  our  surprise ;  it  would  be  surprising,  indeed,  if 
they  did  not  exist.  Most  of  the  white  inhabitants  re 
member  the  day  when  the  people  who  now  claim  to 
be  their  equals  were  their  slaves.  We  can  readily 
imagine  how  offensive,  under  these  circumstances,  the 
union  or  even  association  of  white  and  colored  people 
must  be  considered ;  but,  in  reality,  it  is  only  after  a 
long  residence  in  the  island  that  a  stranger  begins  to 
appreciate  the  horror  with  which  a  Barbadian  white 
will  shrink  from  the  mere  mention  of  a  matrimonial 
alliance  with  a  Creole  of  African  descent,  though  she 
were  as  fair  to  look  upon  as  the  mother  of  all  man 
kind. 

The  question  of  social  independence  is  a  most  deli 
cate  one  to  touch,  and  when  I  seem  to  suggest  that  in 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  71 

free  Barbados  social  distinctions  are  too  marked  for  a 
perfectly  friendly  feeling  to  exist  between  the  white 
and  black  portions  of  the  community,  I  do  not  mean 
to  uphold  the  absurd  pretension  of  social  equality,  in 
the  name  of  which,  and  under  the  aegis  of  modern  de 
mocracy,  so  many  detestable  abuses  and  so  many  fla 
grant  violations  of  individual  liberty  have  been  prac 
ticed.  Nature  has  drawn  a  line  of  demarkation  be 
tween  a  man  with  talent  and  a  man  without;  educa 
tion  divides  the  learned  from  the  ignorant ;  habit  the 
industrious  from  the  idle ;  society  the  man  of  refine 
ment  from  the  boor ;  and  necessity  the  poor  man  from 
the  rich.  Nothing  can  be  more  practically  hopeless 
— nothing  more  destructive  to  personal  freedom  than 
the  doctrine  of  social  equality ;  nor  do  I  for  a  mo 
ment  pretend  that  the  Barbadian  planter  should  be 
censured  because  he  regards  his  laborer,  his  shoe 
maker,  or  his  tailor  as  social  inferiors.  But  when  he, 
and  all  the  other  white  inhabitants  of  the  island,  make 
difference  of  color  their  only  line  of  distinction,  and 
parade  their  reasons  in  an  offensive  and  obnoxious 
way. — when  white  planters  refuse  to  associate  with 
colored  planters,  white  merchants  with  colored  mer 
chants,  and  white  mechanics  with  colored  mechanics, 
simply  because  they  are  colored,  the  question  ceases 
to  be  a  purely  social  one,  and  assumes  a  dangerous 
political  complexion.  As  long  as  the  colored  people 
were  slaves,  their  heart-burnings  and  their  jealousies 
might  be  disregarded  with  impunity  or  contemptu 
ously  ignored.  But  freedom  has  opened  to  them  the 
way  of  progress  and  power;  and  if  their  present  prog 
ress  and  present  power  have  proved,  as  they  have 
proved,  that  color  is  no  insuperable  barrier  to  intel- 


72       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

lectual  development  and  refinement,  it  is  but  wise  to 
make  it  no  longer  an  insuperable  barrier  to  social  ad 
vancement.  I  know  of  parties  in  Barbados  who  re 
fused  to  visit  Government  House  because  they  met 
there  colored  persons  of  the  very  highest  respectabili 
ty  and  cultivation ;  and  though  I  am  ready  to  make 
every  allowance  for  prejudices  so  ingrained  as  these 
of  the  white  against  the  colored  race  in  a  land  where 
they  have  lived  as  master  and  slave — though  I  come 
from  a  country  where  these  feelings  are  more  than 
cherished,  and  where  the  man  in  whom  they  are  found 
wanting  is  condemned  by  public  opinion,  and  can  ex 
pect  or  look  for  no  political  preferment ;  yet,  in  the 
peculiar  case  of  Barbados,  I  can  not  help  regarding 
these  self-same  prejudices  as  the  chief  source  of  dis 
trust  between  the  two  peoples,  and  as  a  decided  ob 
struction  to  the  satisfactory  solution  of  the  emancipa 
tion  problem. 

It  certainly  seems  to  me  that  this  problem  must,  in 
a  great  measure,  be  worked  out  by  the  mulatto  race. 
It  is  vain,  perhaps,  to  speculate  on  the  future,  but  we- 
can  not  close  our  eyes  to  existing  facts.  The  white 
race  within  the  tropics  loses  much  of  its  energy  and 
force.  It  requires  no  very  close  scrutiny  to  be  con 
vinced  of  such  a  patent  truth.  You  can  see  it  in  their 
habits,  manners,  and  customs ;  in  the  conduct  of  their 
business,  and  in  their  daily  life.  The  mulatto  is  as 
exclusively  the  working-man,  in  all  professions  and 
trades,  as  the  black  is  the  field  laborer.  Whites  are 
the  aristocrats— I  speak  of  the  Creole  whites — who 
deem  it  their  special  right  to  legislate  for  the  masses ; 
and  they  do  legislate  abundantly,  not  for  the  mass 
es,  but  in  support  of  themselves,  their  privileges,  and 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  73 

their  order.  But  by-and-by  their  opponents,  daily  in 
creasing  in  knowledge  and  numbers,  will  become  too 
strong  for.  them,  and  when  that  happens  many  a  hob 
by  will  be  mercilessly  swept  away.  If  the  franchise 
in  Barbados  should  ever  be  so  extended  as  to  allow 
the  majority  to  govern,  and  I  do  not  see  how  such  a 
movement  can  be  consistently  prevented,  I  should 
only  be  able  to  hope  that  the  passionate  and  revenge 
ful  temper  of  the  colored  people  would  not  carry  them 
beyond  the  bounds  of  moderation  and  make  them 
dissatisfied  with  mere  political  equality.  I  have  seen 
too  many  exhibitions  of  prejudice  and  violent  feeling 
against  the  whites  to  permit  me  to  believe  the  state 
ments  of  leading  men  in  this  island  that  one  class  en 
tertain  no  ill-will  against  the  other.  The  mulatto, 
educated  and  enlightened  as  he  is,  feels  much  more 
acutely  the  inferiority  of  his  position  now  than  he  felt 
it  as  a  slave ;  and  this  feeling  of  social  inferiority  in 
consequence  of  color  is  calculated  to  excite  and  keep 
alive  the  animosity  of  a  people  much  more  readily 
than  the  sense  of  any  other  wrong.  I  can  assert  posi 
tively  that  it  is  not  the  prevailing  opinion  among  the 
whites  themselves  that  they  are  regarded  with  too 
much  affection  by  their  social  inferiors.  Some  short 
time  ago  the  British  government  proposed  to  remove 
the  white  regiment  from  Barbados  and  leave  only  the 
black,  but  the  proposition  created  such  general  alarm 
that  the  idea  was  abandoned.  I  do  not  mean  to  say 
that  the  removal  of  the  force  would  have  been  follow 
ed  by  any  thing  so  absurd  as  an  insurrection ;  I  sim 
ply  wish  to  show  that  an  insurrection  was  considered, 
in  such  an  event  as  the  withdrawal  of  the  troops,  a 
possible  occurrence,  and  the  project  created  no  little 

D 


74       THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

uneasiness.  It  is,  moreover,  a  fact  that  this  very  prop 
osition  to  withdraw  the  white  troops  was  freely  dis 
cussed  among  the  lower  classes  of  the  people,  and 
their  notion,  very  generally  expressed,  was  that  they 
would  then  be  able  "to  do  as  they  liked." 

While  I  think  it  established  that  free  labor  in  Bar 
bados  is  cheaper  than  slave  labor,  and  that,  therefore, 
it  is  a  success,  there  still  remain  unsettled  issues,  social 
and  political,  flowing  from  emancipation  which  may 
one  day  create  trouble.  The  planters  have  done  noth 
ing  to  conciliate  the  peasant  population ;  on  the  con 
trary,  they  have  done  all  they  could  to  keep  them  on 
low  wages  and  in  dependent  servitude.  The  peasant, 
then,  is  under  the  complete  influence  of  the  mulatto, 
between  whom  and  the  white  there  exists  a  feeling 
amounting  almost  to  hostility.  The  half-caste,  after 
he  has  acquired  wealth  and  independence,  does  not 
and  will  not  comprehend  the  inexorable  prejudices 
which  still  keep  him  the  inferior  of  the  white,  and  he 
frets  under  the  restraint.  While,  therefore,  these  prej 
udices  remain,  and  I  see  no  sign  of  their  disappear 
ance,  and  the  mulatto  or  middle  class  continue  to  in 
crease  in  strength  and  influence,  the  day  must  come 
when  their  interests  and  the  prejudices  of  the  white 
population  will  more  openly  conflict,  and,  with  chances 
of  success  more  nearly  equal,  will  strive  for  the  mas 
tery.  Both  can  not  triumph,  nor  can  both  always  ex 
ist  together.  Happily  the  colonies  acknowledge  the 
sway  of  a  power  strong  enough  to  control  them,  and 
to  prevent  men's  passions  leading  them  to  follow  ex 
amples  like  those  that  we  read  of  in  Hay tian  history. 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  75 


CHAPTER  Yin. 

ST.  VINCENT  SINCE  EMANCIPATION. 

Kingstown,  St.  Vincent,  1859. 

I  HAVE  come  down  to  see  these  "ruined"  islands 
of  the  Windward  group,  and  to  learn  why  St.  Yincent 
and  her  Grenadine  dependencies,  which,  before  eman 
cipation,  exported,  on  an  average,  twenty -five  million 
pounds  of  sugar,  should  now  export  only  sixteen  or 
seventeen  millions,  and  why  the  sugar  exportations 
of  Grenada  have  fallen  away  from  twenty -two  millions 
to  something  less  than  one  half  of  that  amount.  The 
two  islands — Grenada  and  St.  Yincent — are  about 
eighty  miles  apart,  but  are  almost  connected  by  the 
Grenadines — a  chain  of  minute  islets,  which,  seen  from 
a  distance,  resemble  fantastic  clouds  lying  low  upon 
the  horizon.  Yery  similar  in  physical  formation ,  about 
equal  in  size,  with  nearly  the  same  quantity  of  land 
under  cultivation,  and  about  the  same  number  of  in 
habitants,  and  exhibiting  the  same  proportionate  de 
cline  in  the  exportation  of  their  staple  product,  Gre 
nada  and  St.  Yincent  may  be  classed  together  for  the 
purposes  of  this  argument.  Each,  at  the  present  mo 
ment,  is  supposed  to  be  in  great  straits  for  labor,  and 
in  each,  as  far  as  I  have  been  able  to  judge,  the  causes 
that  have  led  to  this  result  are  very  similar. 

An  ardent  lover  of  the  picturesque  would  almost 
regret  to  see  a  spirit  of  Yankee  go-a-head-ativeness 


76       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

kindled  in  St.  Vincent.  Here  a  thousand  cone-shaped 
peaks  are  lifted  up  from  their  coral  base  until  they 
disappear  in  a  cloud  which,  like  an  eagle  with  out 
stretched  wings,  seems  always  to  be  brooding  over 
this,  the  most  summery  of  all  these  summer  islands. 
The  view  of  St.  Vincent,  upon  entering  the  harbor  that 
belongs  to  its  only  port  of  entry,  is  inconceivably 
grand,  and  the  spectator  finds  his  fancy  subdued  by 
reality.  On  one  side  a  bold,  lofty,  sheltering  promon 
tory,  on  the  other  a  fort,  which,  in  its  desolate,  rugged 
beauty  and  inaccessible  height,  looks  like  another 
Ehrenbreitstein ;  in  front,  a  mass  of  isolated  hills, 
clustering  round  their  crowned  king,  all  clothed  in 
green  and  purple  from  the  blue  sky  above  to  the  blue 
waters  below;  and  at  their  base,buried  in  groves  of 
palms  and  cocoas,  lo !  the  quaint  and  antiquated  and 
dilapidated  "city"  of  Kingstown.  It  was  impossible 
not  to  fancy,  just  for  a  passing  moment,  that  the  smoke 
of  a  steam-engine  would  be  a  blot  on  such  a  picture ; 
it  was  impossible  not  to  feel,  after  sober  reflection  and 
an  experience  of  the  miseries  of  Kingstown,  that  even 
the  most  enthusiastic  worshiper  of  nature  would  be 
content  to  barter  charms  of  landscape  for  more  mate 
rial  comforts.  Accident,  design,  or  the  fortune  of 
travel,  never  led  me  to  a  place  so  utterly  destitute  of 
the  spirit  of  enterprise  as  this  lovely  island  of  St.  Vin 
cent  is. 

"What  is  that?"  said  I  to  an  intelligent  youth  who 
acted  as  my  chaperon,  pointing  to  a  heap  of  classic- 
looking  ruins. 

"  Houses  dat  am  fell  in,  massa." 

"How  long  ago?" 

"  I  disremember ;  'fore  I  is  born." 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  77 

There  they  lay  in  the  principal  street  of  Kings 
town.  Every  thing  that  one  sees  in  the  town  is  more 
or  less  an  indication  of  decay.  The  famed  Botanic 
Garden,  twenty  years  ago  the  pride  of  St.  Yincent, 
and  celebrated  throughout  the  "West  Indies,  can  not 
now  be  distinguished ;  the  roads  in  the  interior  of  the 
island,  never  good,  are  now  almost  impassable  for  a 
horseman,  and  even  the  Souffriere  sleeps  in  gloomy 
silence. 

The  appearance  of  decay  which  the  capital  of  St. 
Yincent  presents,  and  the  fact  of  its  diminished  ex 
portation  of  sugar,  have  brought  it  under  the  catego 
ry  of  ruined  West  India  islands,  and  its  ruin  is,  of 
course,  attributed  to  emancipation.  While  I  fully  ad 
mit  its  lack  of  enterprise  and  partial  decline,  truth 
obliges  me  to  say,  what  I  shall  presently  prove,  that 
this  state  of  things  has  been  brought  about  by  want 
of  capital  rather  than  by  want  of  labor,  and  that  a  de 
crease  in  the  growth  of  sugar  can  not  be  considered 
as  the  legitimate  result  of  emancipation  only,  and  does 
not  constitute  the  "ruin"  into  which  it  is  broadly  as 
serted  this  island  is  plunged. 

What  I  have  said  in  a  former  chapter  concerning 
the  plantocracy  of  Barbados  is  applicable  to  the  pro 
prietary  of  St.  Yincent.  The  planters  of  this  island 
have  made  no  efforts  to  retain  the  laborers  on  their 
estates.  I  speak  generally,  for  there  may  be  excep 
tions  to  the  rule ;  indeed,  I  know  of  one  or  two  in 
stances  where  planters,  in  their  individual  capacity, 
have  made  these  efforts,  and  have  been  successful. 
But  the  planters  of  the  island,  as  its  landed  aristocra 
cy  and  legislators,  have  not  done  all  they  might  have 
done  to  reconcile  the  laborer  to  his  servile  position ; 


78       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

they  have  offered  him  no  inducements  to  remain,  as  a 
free  man,  in  the  same  inferior  station  of  life  that  he  oc 
cupied  as  a  slave ;  and  yet  they  bitterly  complain  that 
he  has  been  independent  enough  to  take  the  matter 
into  his  own  hands  and  better  himself.  Wages  here 
for  field  labor  do  not  reach  a  shilling  per  day ;  and  is 
it  surprising  that  those  who  could  should  have  left  the 
unprofitable  business  of  estate-service,  and,  having  pur 
chased  lots  in  the  interior  of  the  island,  should  prefer 
to  earn  their  livelihood  by  cultivating  their  own  prop 
erties?  The  planters  say  that,  according  to  the  cur 
rent  prices  of  sugars,  they  can  not  afford  to  pay  high 
er  wages  for  labor.  I  doubt  the  truth  of  the  state 
ment,  for  much  higher  wages  are  successfully  paid  in 
Trinidad ;  but,  allowing  it  to  be  correct  for  the  sake 
of  argument,  it  is  an  admission  that  the  estate  laborer 
is  insufficiently  paid,  and  a  consequent  justification  of 
his  quitting  that  kind  of  work  for  another  more  re 
munerative.  I  am  disposed  to  doubt  the  assertion 
that  any  of  the  St.  Vincent  estates  were  abandoned 
solely  because  labor  could  not  be  procured  at  a  remu 
nerative  cost.  I  have  been  unable  to  hear  of  them. 
Whenever  I  inquired  about  the  abandonment  of  this 
or  that  property,  I  found  the  reason  to  be  want  of 
capital,  or  the  indebtedness  of  the  proprietor,  through 
which  the  estate  became  mortgaged  beyond  its  value 
— an  indebtedness,  moreover,  incurred  prior  to  eman 
cipation.  But  I  have  already  discussed  this  subject 
so  fully  in  a  former  chapter  that  it  is  unnecessary  for 
me  to  enter  upon  it  again.  In  visiting  each  island,  my 
principal  object  has  been  to  make  myself  acquainted 
with  the  true  condition  of  its  emancipated  classes,  and 
the  inquiry  is  all-important  in  colonies  like  St.  Yin- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  79 

cent,  Grenada,  Tobago,  and  St.  Lucia,  where  the  white 
population  is  exceedingly  small. 

The  population  of  St.  Vincent  in  1831  amounted  to 
27,000,  and  now  stands  at  30,000.  The  census,  last 
taken  in  1851,  makes  no  distinction  between  white, 
colored,  and  black,  but  if  we  estimate  the  first  at  1500 
we  shall  probably  overrate  rather  than  underrate  their 
number.  There  will  then  remain  28,500  black  and 
colored  people,  nearly  all  Creoles  of  the  island ;  for  im 
migration,  as  far  as  St.  Vincent  is  concerned,  has  been 
very  trifling. 

In  comparing  the  present  occupation  of  the  emanci 
pated  classes  with  their  occupation  under  the  slavery 
regime,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  effect  of 
freedom  was  to  abolish  almost  entirely  the  labor  of 
women  in  the  cane-fields.  Thus,  of  the  13,673  field 
laborers  for  whom  compensation  was  given  by  the 
British  government  to  St.  Vincent  proprietors,  one 
half  were  females,  who  are  now  engaged  in  domestic 
and  more  congenial  duties.  At  present  there  are  from 
4000  to  4500  laborers  on  estates ;  and  when  we  look  for 
the  remainder  who  ought  to  bring  up  the  agricultural 
force  of  the  island  to  the  original  figure,  if  the  origi 
nal  sugar  exportation  is  to  be  preserved,  we  find  that 
all  have  bettered  their  condition.  Many  took  to  trade, 
but  the  great  bulk  remained  agriculturists  after  they 
had  severed  themselves  from  the  sugar  estates.  The 
returns  for  1857  show  that  no  less  than  8209  persons 
were  then  living  in  their  own  houses  built  by  them 
selves  since  emancipation — illustrating,  in  the  most 
satisfactory  manner,  the  material  progress  made  by  the 
Creole  laborers  of  St.  Vincent  during  the  last  twenty 
years.  More  remarkable  still  is  the  fact  that,  within 


80       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

the  last  twelve  years,  from  ten  to  twelve  thousand 
acres  have  been  brought  under  cultivation  by  small 
proprietors,  owning  from  one  to  five  acres,  and  grow 
ing  arrow-root,  provisions,  and  minor  articles  for  ex 
port.  The  statistical  returns  from  which  I  gather 
these  figures  further  state  that  there  are  no  paupers  in 
the  island — quite  sufficient,  in  my  opinion,  to  disprove 
the  erroneous  idea  that,  unless  compelled  to  work,  the 
negro  will  lie  all  day  in  the  sun  and  live  on  a  piece  of 
sugar-cane.  I  have  seen  nothing  in  the  British  West 
Indies  that  lends  any  countenance  to  such  a  supposi 
tion.  The  uneducated,  uncivilized  negro  has  undoubt 
edly  many  grave  faults  of  character  and  defects  of  in 
tellect.  He  will  be  lazy  and  thriftless  too  before  he 
has  acquired  the  habit  or  has  felt  the  responsibility 
of  working  for  his  daily  bread.  But  when  he  com 
prehends  that  responsibility,  as  he  does  comprehend 
it  now  in  the  British  West  Indies,  he  will  work  readi 
ly  enough,  and  I  do  believe  that  his  other  faults  will 
gradually  disappear  under  the  influence  of  proper  ed 
ucational  training. 

If  it  be  considered  demonstrated,  from  the  reduced 
exportation  of  sugar,  that  many  of  the  large  landed 
proprietors  of  St.  Vincent  have  withdrawn  from  the 
island,  it  is  also  apparent,  from  the  increased  and  in 
creasing  growth  of  minor  products,  that  the  small  pro 
prietors,  created  by  a  system  of  freedom,  are  enjoying 
unexampled  prosperity.  In  the  one  article  of  arrow 
root  alone,  there  was  exported  1,352,250  Ibs.  in  1857, 
equal  in  value  to  about  $750,000,  against  an  average 
yearly  export  of  60,000  Ibs.  before  abolition.  The 
present  exportation  of  cocoanuts  is  also  very  large. 
While,  therefore,  the  decline  of  sugar  exports  from 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  81 

fourteen  and  fifteen  thousand  hhds.  to  eight  and  nine 
thousand  hhds.  would  indicate  decay,  it  is  a  decay  (if 
the  word  be  applicable  at  all)  confined  exclusively  to 
the  cultivation  of  a  single  article,  and  has  been  brought 
about  partly,  perhaps,  by  want  of  labor,  but  chiefly 
through  the  mismanagement,  extravagance,  and  ab 
senteeism  of  the  proprietors  themselves. 

As  far  as  statistics  can  be  considered  an  authority 
on  such  a  subject,  the  morality  of  the  St.  Yincent  Cre 
oles  is  of  a  higher  standing  than  that  of  the  Barbadian 
Creoles.  Out  of  a  population  of  30,000,  there  is  an 
average  church  attendance  of  8000.  There  is  little 
provision  for  educational  purposes,  and  no  effort  was 
made  to  enlighten  the  people  until  1857,  when  the 
Legislature  established  a  board  of  education.  In  that 
year  the  average  school  attendance  was  about  2000. 
The  criminal  records  show  that  there  is  a  general 
obedience  to  law — the  more  remarkable  as  no  troops 
are  stationed  in  the  island,  and  the  police  authorities 
would  be  utterly  incapable  of  quelling  a  popular  tu 
mult  if  such  a  misfortune  should  occur.  In  1856 
there  were  170  blacks  convicted  of  thefts  and  misde 
meanors,  4  of  larceny  and  4  of  felony :  in  1857  there 
were  162  convicted  of  minor  offenses,  7  of  assault  and 
6  of  felony.  This  is  less  than  the  number  of  convic 
tions  under  the  regime  of  slavery,  and  very  much  less 
than  the  convictions  immediately  after  emancipation, 
when  the  offenders  of  all  classes  during  one  year 
would  average  over  a  thousand.  I  do  not  think  that 
any  one  who  has  visited  St.  Vincent  will  hesitate  to 
say  that,  morally  and  materially,  the  Creoles  of  the 
island  are  infinitely  superior  to  what  they  were  twen 
ty,  or  even  ten  years' ago.  They  have  the  same  vices 
D2 


82       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

and  faults  that  their  brethren  in  the  other  islands  pos 
sess;  but  they  are  vices  and  faults  which,  we  have 
reason  to  hope,  a  proper  system  of  popular  education 
will  ultimately  eradicate. 

There  are  now  encouraging  prospects  that,  even  in 
the  cultivation  of  sugar,  St.  Vincent  will  soon  be  re 
stored  to  its  former  prosperity.  The  island  has  al 
ready  made  preparations  for  the  importation  of  coolie 
labor.  In  October,  1857,  a  law  was  passed  authoriz 
ing  the  appointment  of  an  agent-general  of  immigrants, 
and,  in  other  respects,  introducing  the  system  so  suc 
cessfully  practiced  in  Trinidad  and  British  Guiana. 
To  defray  the  expenses  of  this  immigration  a  special 
duty  is  levied  on  sugar,  rum,  molasses,  arrow-root,  cot 
ton,  and  cocoa,  and  a  portion  of  the  general  revenue 
is  also  appropriated  to  the  same  object.  Though 
eighteen  months  have  passed  since  the  immigration 
law  was  promulgated,  no  coolies,  up  to  this  time,  have 
been  brought  to  St.  Vincent,  and  the  inference  is  that 
the  planters  are  either  in  want  of  capital  or  can  not  be 
in  such  desperate  straits  for  labor  as  they  ask  us  to 
believe. 

But  the  more  I  see  of  these  "West  India  islands  the 
more  am  I  convinced  that  debt  and  want  of  capital, 
much  more  than  want  of  labor,  have  led  to  the  aban 
donment  of  so  many  estates.  A  movement  in  the 
right  direction,  and  one  already  producing  the  most 
beneficial  results,  was  the  passage  through  the  im 
perial  Parliament,  in  1854,  of  the  "West  Indies  Encum 
bered  Estates  Act,  with  similar  provisions  to  those  of 
the  famous  Irish  Bill.  The  measure  was  at  first  re 
garded  with  suspicion,  but  its  benefits  are  now  gener 
ally  acknowledged,  and  in  1856  the  St.  Vincent  Legis- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  83 

lature  passed  an  act  for  carrying  into  execution  the 
imperial  law.  It  is  already  apparent  that,  in  some 
cases,  the  difficulties  created  by  debt  and  encumbrances 
too  weighty  to  be  borne  are  disappearing.  One  par 
ticular  and  remarkable  example  may  be  given — that 
of  the  Arnos  Vale  estate  in  this  island,  covering  about 
454  acres.  The  property  passed  through  the  Encum 
bered  Estates  Court  with  dispatch,  and,  with  a  free  par 
liamentary  title,  was  sold  for  $50,000,  or  one  third 
more  than  any  one  believed  it  could  possibly  fetch. 

There  are  now  fifty-eight  sugar  estates  in  St.  Vincent 
under  high  cultivation.  Forty-six  are  worked  with 
water,  nine  with  steam,  six  with  cattle,  and  six  with 
wind-power.  This,  of  course,  is  a  great  falling  off, 
when  compared  with  the  sugar  cultivation  of  the 
island  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago ;  but,  as  compared 
with  the  depression  of  late  years,  it  exhibits  a  'most 
decided  improvement.  Though  St.  Vincent  only  em 
braces  a  superficial  area  of  84,000  acres,  there  are  in 
the  island  large  estates  yet  to  be  rescued  from  ruin, 
and  large  tracts  of  land  yet  to  be  reclaimed  from 
primeval  forest.  But,  with  a  supply  of  labor  such  as 
they  can  now  obtain,  and  freed  from  the  burden  of 
debt  under  which  they  have  hitherto  vainly  strug 
gled — a  debt,  be  it  always  remembered,  incurred  be 
fore  freedom  was  tested — the  planters  of  St.  Vincent 
look  forward  to  a  time  of  revived  and  redoubled  pros 
perity.  Its  first  fruits  are  already  apparent. 


84       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  IX. 

GRENADA  SINCE   EMANCIPATION. 

St.  George,  Grenada,  1859. 

THE  appearance  of  this  town,  the  capital  of  the 
island  of  Grenada,  is  even  more  picturesque  and  more 
dilapidated  than  that  of  St.  Vincent.  St.  George  is 
built  upon  two  sides  of  a  hill,  one  facing  the  ocean, 
and  the  other  the  Careenage,  a  magnificent  harbor 
where  fifteen  hundred  ships  could  ride  at  anchor. 
The  streets  are  overgrown  with  weeds;  the  houses 
look'  as  though  something  much  less  formidable  than 
a  hurricane  would  level  them  with  the  ground ;  and 
there  is  evidence  every  where  of  former  splendor,  and 
of  money  lavished,  thoughtlessly  lavished,  I  should 
say,  under  the  mistaken  impression  that  these  islands 
would  one  day  form  a  great  West  Indian  Empire. 
Whenever  I  visit  a  West  India  city,  I  am  not  so 
much  surprised  at  its  present  condition  as  at  the 
traces  it  bears  of  the  exaggerated  and  visionary  hopes 
of  its  early  inhabitants.  Present  depression  is  only 
a  comparative  depression,  and  is  a  natural  consequence 
of  the  fictitious  value  formerly  placed  upon  property. 
The  streets  of  a  West  India  city  give  an  unfavorable 
impression  of  the  inhabitants,  because  the  drones  of 
all  the  island  congregate  there.  But  after  the  coun 
try  districts  have  been  visited,  this  impression  wears 
off,  and  the  impartial  spectator  begins  to  entertain 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  85 

serious  doubts  as  to  whether  the  island  was  more 
prosperous  under  the  old  regime,  when  all  its  wealth 
and  all  its  resources  were  in  the  hands  of  a  few  land 
ed  proprietors,  than  it  is  now,  when  intelligence  is 
more  general,  and  when  wealth  is  more  equally  di 
vided  among  a  large  population.  If  here  and  there 
in  Grenada  you  come  across  an  abandoned  estate,  or 
if  the  houses  of  its  ancient  aristocracy  have  fallen  into 
ruin  because  capital  has  left  the  island,  there  is  some 
compensation  in  the  fact  that  the  humble  dwellings 
of  the  peasantry  have  exceedingly  multiplied  and  im 
proved,  and  that  villages  have  risen  into  existence 
with  marvelous  rapidity. 

The  decline  of  Grenada  is  no  new  thing;  it  dates 
back  long  anterior  to  emancipation.  In  1779  the 
slaves  of  the  island  were  rated  at  35,000 ;  and,  from 
that  period  down  to  the  day  of  abolition,  this  number 
continued  to  diminish.  In  1827  the  number  of  the 
slaves  amounted  to  24,442,  and  in  1837  the  number 
for  whom  compensation  was  paid  by  the  imperial  gov 
ernment  was  only  23,641.  Thus,  too,  in  1776,  the 
exports  greatly  exceeded  what  they  ever  since  attain 
ed.  They  amounted  in  that  year  to  nearly  24,000,000 
Ibs.  of  sugar,  800,000  gallons  of  rum,  2,000,000  Ibs. 
of  coffee,  500,000  Ibs.  of  cocoa,  100,000  Ibs.  of  cotton, 
28,000  Ibs.  of  indigo,  besides  smaller  articles ;  all  of 
which  together  were  worth,  at  the  port  of  shipping, 
at  least  three  millions  of  dollars.  In  1823  the  exports 
of  sugar  remained  at  about  the  same  figure,  but  other 
products  had  so  materially  diminished  that  the  entire 
value  of  the  island's  exportation  did  not  reach  two 
millions  of  dollars.  In  1831,  immediately  before 
emancipation,  the  export  of  sugar  had  decreased  to 


86       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

nineteen  millions  of  pounds,  and  the  value  of  all  ex 
ports  combined  was  a  little  more  than  one  million  of 
dollars.  This  deterioration  can  only  be  attributed  to 
those  evils  which,  as  I  have  shown  in  former  letters, 
existed  then  throughout  the  entire  West  Indies. 
Nine  estates  out  of  every  ten  were  overburdened  with 
debts,  created  partly  by  the  expenses  of  the  slave  sys 
tem  and  partly  by  the  extravagance,  mismanagement, 
and  absenteeism  of  proprietors.  But  let  us  pass  from 
this  to  the  condition  of  the  island  and  its  inhabitants 
in  later  times. 

Of  the  number  of  slaves  for  whom  compensation 
was  paid  to  Grenada  proprietors  by  the  British  gov 
ernment,  I  find  that  14,716  (males  and  females)  consti 
tuted  at  that  time  the  agricultural  force  of  the  island. 
The  total  population  of  Grenada  is  now  about  33,000, 
an  increase  of  three  or  four  thousand  over  the  popula 
tion  of  1827.  Accustomed  as  I  have  lately  been  to 
the  stale  outcry  of  "  want  of  labor,"  I  am  somewhat 
surprised  to  learn  from  the  Grenada  blue-books  of 
1857  that  there  were  then  nearly  14,000  Creoles  (of 
whom  a  very  great  majority  were  men)  engaged  in 
agriculture.  This  fact  alone  contradicts  the  idea  of 
any  wholesale  desertion  from  the  estates,  and  it  needs 
not  that  I  should  show  in  the  present  case — what  I 
have  all  along  maintained — that  the  abandonment  of 
West  India  properties  was  more  the  fault  of  the  mas 
ters  than  of  the  servants.  In  this  island  the  majority 
of  emancipated  field  laborers  continued  to  pursue  their 
agricultural  calling,  and  if  some  have  engaged  in  trade, 
or  have  emigrated  to  other  islands,  the  only  wonder  is 
that  more  have  not  done  so,  when  wages  are  as  low 
as  from  five  shillings  to  two  and  sixpence  sterling  per 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  87 

week.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  of  the  14,000 
Grenadian  Creoles  at  present  engaged  in  agriculture, 
all  are  in  a  subservient  position.  Only  6000  are  act 
ually  on  the  estates,  and  the  remainder,  preferring  a 
greater  independence  than  would  be  there  allowed 
them,  have  rented  cottages,  or  are  living  in  their  own 
houses,  and  may  be  seen  traveling  along  the  roads 
every  morning  to  their  daily  work.  That  the  ma 
terial  condition  of  the  Creole  population  has  improved 
since  emancipation  is  as  manifest  in  this  island  as  it 
is  in  all  others  that  I  have  visited.  The  small  pro 
prietors,  of  whom  there  were  none  prior  to  1830,  now 
number  over  2000,  and  are  greatly  on  the  increase ; 
nearly  7000  persons  are  living  in  villages  built  since 
emancipation,  and  there  are  4573  persons  in  Grenada 
who  pay  direct  taxes.  In  the  whole  island  there  were, 
last  year,  only  sixty  paupers,  and  these  were  all  aged 
or  sick.  The  average  church  attendance  throughout 
the  island  was,  in  1857,  over  8000,  against  7000  be 
fore  emancipation ;  but  the  school  attendance  is  com 
paratively  small,  being  only  1600.  Education  among 
the  Creoles  of  Grenada  has  been,  up  to  this  time,  at  a 
very  low  ebb,  for  it  has  been  looked  upon  with  jeal 
ousy  and  distrust.  But  a  board  of  education  is  now 
in  existence,  and  great  progress  in  popular  instruc 
tion  may  be  anticipated.  Criminal  statistics  for  1857 
show  that  only  eighteen  persons  during  the  year  were 
convicted  of  felony,  six  of  theft,  and  two  of  other  of 
fenses.  Misdemeanors  are  not  enumerated. 

The  superficial  area  of  Grenada  is  about  80,000 
acres,  and  the  quantity  of  land  now  in  crop  and  pas 
ture  goes  to  show  that,  if  the  island  exports  less  sugar 
than  it  did  in  other  days,  cultivation  has  not  propor- 


88       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

tionably  diminished.  The  inference  is  that  the  inhab 
itants  are  not  less  industrious,  but  raise  more  of  the  mi 
nor  articles  of  export  and  more  food  for  home  con 
sumption  than  they  did  under  the  slavery  regime. 
Thus,  in  1857,  there  were  6372  acres  in  cane,  84  in 
coffee,  1790  in  cocoa,  266  in  cotton,  7262  in  provisions, 
975  in  other  cultivation,  and  5284  in  pasture,  making 
a  total  of  43,800  cultivated  acres,  or  an  increase  of 
3800  over  the  previous  year.  I  have  no  means  of  as 
certaining  the  number  of  acres  under  cultivation  be 
fore  emancipation;  but  though  the  number  of  acres 
in  cane  was  probably  double  what  it  is  now,  yet  the 
general  cultvation,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  was  not 
nearly  so  large  or  so  complete  as  that  which  the  isl 
and  to-day  presents. 

Such  an  inference,  I  think,  can  be  drawn  from  a 
comparison,  if  such  be  instituted,  between  the  exports 
of  Grenada  now  and  her  exports  immediately  prior 
to  emancipation.  While  in  1831  Grenada  exported 
double  the  amount  of  sugar  that  she  did  in  1857,  the 
value  of  all  her  exports  in  the  former  year  was  only 
£218,352,  against  £180,000,  their  value  in  the  latter 
year,  and  this  in  spite  of  the  very  material  decline  in 
the  prices  of  sugar.  In  1832,  two  years  prior  to 
emancipation,  the  value  of  Grenadian  exports  was 
£153,175,  considerably  less  than  it  is  now.  The  fact 
is  that  sugar  is  the  only  article  ©f  export  in  which 
the  island  can  be  said  to  have  suffered  a  decline.  I 
do  not  for  a  moment  deny  the  importance  or  signifi 
cance  of  that  decline ;  but  it  should  be  remembered 
that  in  minor  articles,  such  as  cocoa,  the  island  is  pro 
ducing  double  now  what  it  produced  twenty -five  years 
ago.  The  imports  of  Grenada  also  show  that  its  col- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  89 

ored  population  are  not  in  a  worse  condition  than  they 
were  at  any  period  in  their  past  history.  In  1857  the 
imports,  of  which  over  one  third  were  provisions  from 
the  United  States,  amounted  to  $109,000,  against 
£78,000,  £73,000,  and  £77,000  during  the  years  im 
mediately  preceding  emancipation. 

Grenada  has  taken  the  lead  of  St.  Vincent  in  the 
importation  of  coolie  laborers,  but  want  of  capital  is 
the  great  drawback  to  a  proper  development  of  the 
scheme.  Up  to  the  present  time  only  three  or  four 
hundred  immigrants  have  been  introduced  into  the 
island,  and  it  can  not  be  expected  that  any  remarkable 
benefits  should  be  experienced  by  the  colony  from  so 
small  a  supply.  The  Grenadian  immigration  laws  are 
very  liberal  to  the  coolie.  Every  estate  must  have 
clean  and  good-sized  lodging-houses  for  immigrants, 
with  separate  apartments  for  every  man  and  wife. 
There  must  be  a  medical  practitioner  on  each  estate, 
whose  duty  it  is  to  attend  the  coolie  free  of  charge, 
and  see  that  he  is  provided  when  sick  with  proper 
nourishment.  Wages  are  paid  in  cash  every  month, 
and  the  employer  is  not  permitted  to  deduct  any  thing 
from  the  sum  due  without  the  full  and  free  consent 
of  the  coolie. 

I  have  not  heard  of  a  case  in  Grenada  to  which  the 
West  India  Encumbered  Estates  Act  has  been  yet  ap 
plied.  But  the  day  will  come  when  estates  now  ly 
ing  idle  and  mortgaged  beyond  their  value  will  be  re 
lieved  by  wholesome  process  of  law  from  their  heavy 
incubus  of  debt,  and  be  restored,  perhaps,  to  their  for 
mer  prosperity. 


90       THE  OKDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  X. 

TOBAGO  AND  ST.  LUCIA  SINCE   EMANCIPATION. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1859. 

THEKE  are  two  islands  under  the  dominion  of  the 
Windward  government — of  all  the  five  the  smallest 
and  most  distant  from  each  other — upon  whose  actual 
condition  I  must  make  a  few  remarks.  I  refer  to  To 
bago  and  St.  Lucia.  The  former  is  the  most  souther 
ly  of  the  Caribbee  Islands.  Like  Grenada,  it  exhibit 
ed  a  gradual  decline  in  its  slave  population  during  the 
fifteen  years  that  preceded  emancipation.  Thus,  in 
1819,  the  number  of  registered  slaves  in  Tobago  was 
15,470 ;  in  1832  there  were  but  12,091,  while  the  num 
ber,  including  non-effectives,  for  whom  compensation 
was  claimed  by  Tobago  proprietors,  was  only  10,500. 
The  present  estimated  population  is  15,674,  of  which 
160  are  whites. 

Of  the  Tobago  slaves  manumitted  at  the  time  of 
emancipation  7443  were  field  laborers.  The  latest  re 
turns  show  that  6440  constitute  the  present  agricul 
tural  force  of  the  island,  the  balance  of  the  population 
being  engaged  in  trade  and  as  domestics.  We  find 
here  no  sufficient  falling  off  in  the  agricultural  force 
to  account  for  the  diminished  production  of  sugar, 
which,  in  Tobago,  is  now  three  and  four  thousand 
hogsheads,  against  seven  thousand  some  twenty  five 
years  ago.  The  decline,  if  it  can  be  attributed  in  any 


THE  BRITISH   WEST  INDIES.  91 

degree  to  deficiency  of  labor,  must  have  its  origin  in 
other  concurrent  causes.  Among  these  causes,  an  im 
portant  one  lies  in  the  fact  that  money  soon  found  its 
way  from  Tobago  to  the  adjacent  island  of  Trinidad, 
where  so  many  and  such  superior  inducements  were 
held  out  to  capitalists.  In  the  general  argument,  I 
do  not  think  that  sufficient  weight  is  given  to  this  nat 
ural  transfer  of  capital  from  an  old  and  worn-out  to  a 
recently  settled  and  more  promising  island.  But  par 
ticularly  in  the  case  of  Trinidad  and  Tobago — two 
islands  only  forty  miles  apart — it  is  not  at  all  surpris 
ing  that  capitalists  should  have  preferred  the  bound 
less  field  for  enterprise  of  the  one  to  the  circumscribed 
area  and  limited  resources  of  the  other. 

But,  in  spite  of  capital  withdrawn  and  sugar  exports 
diminished,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  there  is  as 
marked  an  improvement  in  the  condition  of  the  To- 
bagian  Creoles  as  in  that  of  the  other  colored  popula 
tions  of  the  West  India  colonies.  The  small  propri 
etors  of  Tobago  have  greatly  multiplied  since  emanci 
pation.  There  are  2800  blacks  and  colored  persons 
in  the  island  paying  direct  taxation,  and  2500  free 
holders.  Many  of  the  common  field  laborers  live  in 
houses  built  by  themselves  since  emancipation.  The 
average  church  attendance  in  Tobago  is  large,  being 
41  per  cent,  of  the  entire  population.  There  is  an 
average  school  attendance  of  1600.  Like  most  of  the 
other  islands,  Tobago  has  exhibited  decided  signs  of 
revival  during  the  past  few  years.  The  imports  of 
1856  amounted  to  £59,994  sterling,  against  £52,307 
in  1854,  and  the  exports  in  1856  were  £79,789,  against 
£49,754  in  1854.  The  rainy  season  being  very  pro 
longed  in  this  island,  its  climate  can  not  be  considered 


92       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

a  highly  favorable  one  for  the  growth  of  sugar.  It  is, 
however,  too  small  an  island  to  be  brought  forward 
(on  its  own  merits  alone)  as  a  witness  for  or  against 
the  cause  of  free  labor.  Of  the  62,000  acres  embraced 
in  its  superficial  area,  7800  are  under  cultivation,  and 
of  these  only  2700  are  in  canes. 

Among  the  smaller  islands  which  dot  the  Carib 
bean  Sea,  St.  Lucia  presents,  as  far  as  its  size  will  per 
mit,  a  striking  example  of  the  superior  advantages  of 
free  labor.  The  tenure  of  land  in  this  island  is  more 
liberal  than  it  is  in  other  Windward  islands.  Induce 
ments  have  been  held  out  to  laborers  to  work  on  the 
estates,  and  endeavors  have  been  made,  with  great  suc 
cess,  to  improve  their  condition  and  elevate  them  in 
the  sociai  scale.  The  Metairie  system  prevails  here, 
and  tenants  at  will  are  unknown.  To  the  wise  policy 
that  dictated  such  a  course  may  be  attributed  the 
marked  contrast  between  St.  Lucia  and  some  other 
West  India  colonies.  The  Creole  laborers  of  St.  Lu 
cia  are,  comparatively  speaking,  an  independent  class, 
and  the  experiment  of  leaving  them  free  agents,  un- 
trammeled  by  coercive  measures  of  legislation,  is  an 
undoubted  success.  The  planters  of  St.  Lucia  have 
made  it  the  interest  of  the  peasantry  to  work  for  the 
estates,  and  the  result  shows  that  they  work  more 
profitably  and  more  willingly  than  ever  they  worked 
under  a  system  of  compulsion. 

There  was  in  this  island,  as  in  others,  a  decrease  of 
the  slave  population  prior  to  emancipation  and  subse 
quent  to  the  suppression  of  the  slave-trade.  Of  the 
16,285  registered  slaves  in  1816  there  were  only 
13,291  twenty  years  afterward.  The  population  now 
is  25,307,  of  whom  958  are  whites.  Of  the  13,291 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  93 

slaves  for  whom  compensation  was  paid  to  St.  Lucia 
proprietors  by  the  British  government,  8112  were  en 
gaged  in  agriculture ;  and  though  I  have  no  statistics 
of  the  fact,  yet  I  have  reason  to  believe  that  the  pres 
ent  agricultural  population  of  the  island  is  about  the 
same.  The  precise  figures,  however,  it  is  not  mate 
rial  to  know,  since  we  do  know  that  the  products  of 
the  island  have  doubled  within  the  last  twenty -five 
years. 

Among  the  colored  inhabitants  of  St.  Lucia  there 
are  now  4603  persons  paying  direct  taxes,  and  2045 
freeholders — become  so,  of  course,  since  emancipation. 
Of  the  37,000  acres  which  the  island  contains,  3411 
are  in  canes,  49  in  coffee,  192  in  cocoa,  1013  in  provi 
sions,  and  3124  in  pasture.  The  sugar  exportation  of 
St.  Lucia  amounted  in  1857  to  6,261,875  Ibs.,  against 
an  average  yearly  export  of  from  three  to  four  mil 
lions  prior  to  emancipation ;  and  the  exportation  of 
cocoa  during  1857  was  251,347  Ibs.,  against  91,280  Ibs. 
in  former  times.  The  imports  in  1857  were  valued 
at  £90,064  sterling,  against  £68,881  in  1851.  St. 
Lucia  is  a  very  small  island,  and,  like  Tobago,  may 
not  be  offered  as  a  convincing  argument  in  favor  of 
free  labor ;  but  there  is  certainly  nothing  in  its  pres 
ent  condition,  or  in  that  of  its  population,  to  show  that 
the  one  or  the  other  has  suffered  in  any  respect  from 
the  effects  of  emancipation. 


TRINIDAD, 

CHAPTER  XI. 

CHARACTERISTICS  OF  THE  ISLAND. 

Port-of-Spain,  Trinidad,  1859. 

TRINIDAD  has  been  surnamed  "The  Indian  Para 
dise  ;"  and  as  far  as  external  beauty  may  entitle  it  to 
pre-eminence,  it  is  magnificently  pre-eminent  in  this 
Western  Archipelago.  In  point  of  size — containing 
over  2000  square  miles — Trinidad  is  the  largest  Brit 
ish  West  India  island  after  Jamaica ;  and  in  position 
al  importance,  from  its  proximity  to  the  Venezuelan 
coast,  it  is  only  second  to  Cuba. 

Approaching  from  the  north,  the  hills  of  Trinidad 
may  be  seen  at  an  immense  distance,  running  in  a 
continuous  ridge  east  and  west,  rising  to  a  height  of 
over  3000  feet,  sloping  almost  perpendicularly  to  the 
sea,  and  abruptly  broken  at  their  western  extremity 
into  three  entrances — the  Bocas,  or  passages  to  the 
Gulf  of  Paria.  Adventurous  navigators  sometimes 
tempt  the  perils  of  the  smaller  Bocas  in  order  to 
shorten  their  voyage,  but  the  Boca  grande,  formed  by 
a  solitary  island  rock  on  the  left,  and  the  Parian  Cape 
of  Pena  on  the  right,  is  always  selected  by  those  wary 
pilots  who  have  experienced  the  Scyllas  and  Charyb- 
des  of  the  "  Dragon's  Mouth."  After  a  vessel  has  en- 


96       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

tered  the  passage,  the  storm,  whatever  may  have  been 
its  force,  is  no  longer  felt,  and  the  waters  of  the  gulf, 
fresh  from  the  ceaseless  tides  of  the  mighty  Orinoco, 
are  still  and  calm  as  those  of  the  most  secluded  lake. 
And  here  a  scene  of  surpassing  splendor  is  unfolded 
to  view.  Trinidad — forest-covered  from  mountain- 
top  to  water's  edge,  its  luxuriant  and  gigantic  vegeta 
tion  rich  with  a  coloring  that  eternal  summer  alone 
can  give — invites  your  approach  on  the  one  hand, 
while,  on  the  other,  the  smoking  hills  of  Venezuela 
loom  through  the  heated  atmosphere,  and  shrink  away 
over  the  distant  main.  The  Gulf  of  Paria  is  an  ex 
tensive  harbor,  in  which  all  the  navies  of  the  world 
might  safely  anchor.  It  is  shallow  near  the  coast  of 
Trinidad,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been  originally  a 
lake  formed  in  the  delta  of  the  Orinoco.  That  the 
island,  at  no  very  remote  period,  was  part  of  the  South 
American  continent,  we  may  now  fully  believe;  for 
a  geological  survey,  which  has  occupied  two  years  and 
is  just  completed,  under  the  auspices  of  the  colonial 
government,  has  placed  the  fact  beyond  a  doubt.  The 
identity  of  the  animal  and  vegetable  productions  of 
Trinidad  with  those  of  the  neighboring  Venezuelan 
province  of  Cumana — productions  not  found  in  the 
Antilles — long  made  it  evident  to  the  most  unscientific 
that  Trinidad  had  been  detached  from  the  continent, 
and  the  lateness  of  the  period  at  which  the  catastrophe 
occurred  was  believed  on  the  strength  of  a  tradition 
extant  among  the  Indians,  when,  in  1498,  the  island 
was  discovered  by  Columbus,  that  the  separation  had 
been  caused  by  an  earthquake  at  no  very  distant  date. 
The  truth  of  these  suppositions  is  now  confirmed  by 
scientific  observations.  It  appears,  from  the  survey- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  97 

or's  report,  that  precious  metals  do  not  exist  in  Trini 
dad.  Limestone,  sandstone,  and  slate  are  the  princi 
pal  rock,  and  bitumen  or  fossil-pitch  is  to  be  found  in 
great  abundance.  Every  one  has  heard  of  that  great 
natural  phenomenon,  the  Pitch  Lake,  situated  on  the 
leeward  side  of  the  island.  It  is  composed  of  bitu 
minous  scoriae,  vitrified  sand  and  earth  cemented  to 
gether — a  material  which  is  now  converted  into  valu 
able  account.  The  soils  of  Trinidad,  like  its  physical 
appearance  and  geological  formation,  are  very  vari 
ous,  and  are  classed  under  the  three  heads  of  clay, 
loam,  and  alluvial  deposits.  They  are  generally  fer 
tile,  and  will  compare  favorably  with  the  best  soils  of 
Cuba  and  San  Domingo. 

On  the  west  coast  of  Trinidad  its  principal  town, 
Port-of-Spain,  lies  embosomed  in  an  amphitheatre  of 
hills.  The  capital  has  a  population  of  over  20,000 
souls,  and  for  beauty  and  regularity  of  construction  is 
held  to  be  the  second  city  in  the  West  Indies.  There 
is  more  life  and  business  activity  in  Port-of-Spain  than 
in  any  British  Antillean  town  that  I  have  seen.  Ex 
tensive  quays  and  large  commodious  stores  give  to 
the  place,  at  the  first  glance,  an  air  of  some  commer 
cial  importance.  The  streets  are  wide,  are  well  laid 
out,  and  run  parallel  or  at  right  angles  with  each  oth 
er.  The  principal  thoroughfare,  King  Street,  at  the 
head  of  which  stands  the  Catholic  cathedral,  is  nearly 
twice  as  wide  as  Broadway.  Two  rows  of  trees,  huge 
in  stature  and  magnificent  in  foliage,  run  along  its 
centre  from  end  to  end,  except  where  they  are  inter 
rupted  by  a  fountain — the  carriage-ways  being  on 
either  side,  and  a  road  for  horse  exercise  in  the  mid 
dle.  The  stores  on  King  Street  would  not  disgrace  a 

E 


98       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

city  of  ten  times  the  population  of  Port-of-Spain. 
The  streets  are  kept  clean,  the  drainage  is  good,  the 
houses  are  well  and  solidly  built ;  there  is  an  immense 
savanna  or  park  reserved  for  the  recreation  of  the 
people ;  and  the  whole  town,  in  its  municipal  arrange 
ments  as  in  its  outward  appearance,  offers  palpable  ev 
idence  of  increasing  prosperity.  No  investigation  is 
needed  to  ascertain  the  fact.  As  a  straw  to  indicate 
the  amount  of  business  in  the  place,  it  may  be  inter 
esting  to  know  that  the  Trinidad  branch  of  the  Colo 
nial  Bank,  after  paying  all  expenses,  makes  a  profit  of 
over  $100,000  per  annum.  A  public  hospital  recent 
ly  built  in  Port-of-Spain  is  not  surpassed  in  America. 
The  churches  are  large,  elegant  structures,  and  though 
the  government  buildings  are  not  as  commodious  or 
as  extensive  as  the  necessities  of  the  community  re 
quire,  I  have  seen  much  worse  edifices  of  the  kind  in 
more  pretentious  cities.  Among  the  estimates  for 
the  current  year  $83,000  are  set  apart  for  new  works 
and  repairs  of  public  buildings,  which  will  include  the 
completion  of  the  sewerage- works  and  a  residence  for 
the  governor",  who  lives  at  present  in  a  small  country 
cottage.  The  market-place  of  Port-of-Spain  is  large, 
and  is  supplied  with  every  convenience.  It  appears 
to  best  advantage  on  a  Sunday  morning,  when  the 
grounds  are  crowded.  There  is  a  very  creditable  li 
brary  and  news-room  in  the  town,  and,  in  spite  of  their 
unfriendly  distance  from  Europe  or  Northern  Amer 
ica,  the  inhabitants  are  not  so  much  out  of  the  world 
as  might  be  supposed.  No  thanks,  however,  to  the 
newspapers,  of  which  there  are  a  weekly  and  three 
semi- weekly  published  in  the  island — one  at  San  Fer 
nando,  and  the  others  at  Port-of-Spain.  The  present 


THE   BRITISH   WEST   INDIES.  99 

opposition  journal,  whose  death  may  be  expected  at 
any  moment,  is  in  the  interest  of  the  colored  popula 
tion,  and  is  weak,  coarse,  and  not  to  be  relied  upon ; 
the  government  journal  gives  utterance  to  the  opin 
ions  of  a  very  inefficient  and  unpopular  governor. 
Trinidad  can  not  boast  of  an  "independent  press"  in 
any  form  or  shape. 

Port-of-Spain  is  well  supplied  with  water  from  the 
Maraval  Kiver.  The  reservoir  is  about  three  miles 
distant  from  town.  Pipes  varying  from  two  to  six 
inches  in  diameter  are  laid  in  all  the  streets,  and  hy 
drants  are  disposed  at  every  500  feet  for  protection 
against  fire.  This  hasty  sketch  of  the  Trinidadian 
capital  will  sufficiently  illustrate  that  the  inhabitants 
are  both  able  and  willing  to  keep  up  with  the  progress 
of  the  age.  A  steamer  runs  daily  to  various  towns 
along  the  island  coast,  and  another,  destined  for  the 
same  duty,  will  arrive  from  England  in  the  course  of 
a  few  months.  Land  in  the  city,  well  iocated,  is  val 
ued  at  50  cents  a  foot,  and  a  two-story  store  will  rent 
as  high  as  from  $1200  to  $2000  a  year. 

So  much  for  the  town :  the  settled  country  districts 
exhibit  equal  enterprise  and  progress.  The  whole  isl 
and,  in  its  physical  character,  is  one  of  the  most  beau 
tiful  that  it  is  possible  to  imagine.  Lofty  mountains 
run  in  parallel  ranges  east  and  west,  intersected  by 
deep  valleys  which  contract  into  gorges  at  the  centre. 
Nature  could  offer  nothing  more  magnificent  for  sugar 
cultivation  than  these  valleys,  with  their  rich  alluvial 
soil,  and  the  hill-sides  are  admirably  adapted  to  the 
growth  of  the  cacao  and  tropical  fruits  and  vegeta 
bles.  Except  at  the  Naparimas,  where  the  principal 
sugar  plantations  are  situated,  and  which  present  a 


100      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

district  of  uninterrupted  cultivation,  Trinidad  has  the 
appearance  of  a  wild,  unreclaimed,  and  densely-wood 
ed  country,  broken  up  with  savannas.  Select  any 
elevated  point  for  a  view,  and  the  picturesqueness  and 
variety  of  the  landscape  are  marvelous.  Here  will  be 
a  hill-side  smothered  in  the  golden  blossoms  of  the 
poui ;  there  another,  covered  with  the  orange  flower 
of  the  roble ;  beyond,  a  forest  of  gigantic  cedar. 
Those  feathery  masses  of  light  green  on  the  left  are 
clusters  of  arched  bamboo,  stretching  over  the  banks 
of  a  rivulet  which  can  just  be  distinguished  through 
the  luxuriant  vegetation.  At  your  feet,  like  a  bright 
red  carpet,  extends  a  young  cacao  plantation,  sheltered 
from  the  scorching  heat  by  the  motherly  arms  of  the 
bois  immortd;  farther  on,  a  savanna  or  a  cane-field,  or 
a  grove  of  lofty  cocoanut-trees,  tand  in  the  distance 
the  deep  blue  sea.  Such  a  variety  of  rich,  voluptuous 
coloring  is  very  rarely  witnessed  in  a  single  landscape- 
view.  The  birds  of  "  northern  climes  abhorred"  would 
not  harmonize  here,  and  Nature,  when  she  filled  the 
scene  with  myriads  of  the  feathered  tribes,  clothed 
them  with  a  brilliant  plumage  that  none  but  the  Great 
Limner  could  reproduce. 

But  I  must  pass  from  the  natural  aspect  of  Trini 
dad — from  its  woods,  so  valuable  and  multiplied,  its 
vegetation,  so  luxuriant  and  varied,  its  ornithological 
and  botanical  treasures  so  exhaustless  —  to  subjects 
more  practical.  I  have  merely  wished  to  show  that, 
different  from  Barbados  and  its  finished  cultivation, 
the  settlement  of  this  island  and  its  history  have  but 
just  commenced.  With  only  a  present  population  of 
70,000  or  80,000  souls,  Trinidad  can  sustain  a  million. 
Its  soil  is  of  exceeding  richness,  and  of  the  million  and 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  101 

a  quarter  acres  which,  cover  its  surface,  twenty-nine 
thirtieths  are  fit  for  cultivation.  Its  resources  are  im 
mense  ;  every  product  of  the  tropics,  and  many  fruits 
and  vegetables  of  temperate  regions,  can  be  grown 
here;  and  a  laboring  population  is  only  wanted  to 
develop  the  wealth  that  lies  hidden  in  forests  tenant 
ed  still  by  some  scattered  representatives  of  the  an 
cient  Carib.  The  island,  as  I  shall  hereafter  show,  is 
fast  receiving  that  laboring  population;  and,  since 
the  immigration  of  Indian  coolies  commenced,  it  has 
sprung  from  a  condition  of  hopeless  lethargy  into  one 
of  activity  and  life — an  example  and  a  guide  to  the 
other  colonies.  Within  the  last  few  years  the  exten 
sion  of  sugar  cultivation  has  been  very  great,  and  the 
improvement  still  goes  on. 

But  a  vast  work  has  to  be  done  before  the  island 
can  be  brought  under  the  complete  dominion  of  man. 
There  are  now  about  60,000  acres  under  cultivation, 
of  which  30,000  are  in  cane,  7000  in  cacao,  and  the  re 
mainder  in  provisions  and  pasture.  There  are  about 
280  sugar  estates,  each  yielding  on  an  average  200 
hogsheads,  and  some  as  many  as  800  and  1000  hogs 
heads.  It  is  impossible  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the 
value  of  land  from  an  average  estimate  when  land 
varies  in  price  as  much  as  it  does  here ;  but  it  is  fair 
to  say  that  where  a  Trinidad  estate  would  bring  §100 
per  acre,  one  in  Barbados  would  bring  $400,  and  even 
$500.  The  reputation  that  a  Barbadian  Creole  enjoys 
as  a  good,  steady  laborer,  the  more  finished  or  more 
careful  manufacture  of  the  Barbadian  sugars,  and 
some  little  prejudice  in  favor  of  the  older  colony, 
make  the  difference,  for  the  soil  and  climate  of  Trini 
dad  are  both  superior  for  sugar  growing  to  those  of 


102      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

the  sister  island.  Trinidad  is  not  yet  sufficiently  well 
known  to  the  world  at  large ;  its  own  inhabitants  have 
the  most  brilliant  hopes  in  its  future. 

The  planters  of  this  island  are  not  very  far  advanced 
in  the  science  of  agriculture,  if  we  measure  their  skill 
by  the  product  of  their  estates,  which  only  average 
one  to  one  and  a  half  hogsheads  of  sugar  to  the  acre ; 
but  the  excuse  given  is  that,  as  yet,  they  have  not 
been  able  to  devote  money  or  time  to  a  more  scien 
tific  culture  of  their  land.  They  have  been  toiling 
until  now  for  very  existence.  Their  mills,  however, 
are  superior  to  those  of  Barbados.  One  hundred  and 
thirty-five  are  worked  with  steam,  and  turn  out  six 
and  eight  hogsheads  per  day;  about  a  hundred  are 
worked  with  cattle,  and  a  few  with  water-power.  The 
last  will  soon  be  obsolete.  Besides  the  regular  plant 
ers,  there  are  a  very  large  number  of  small  proprie 
tors  who  grow  their  own  provisions ;  of  these  I  shall 
speak  more  particularly  in  a  subsequent  chapter, 
which  I  shall  devote  to  the  Creole  population  of  the 
island. 

The  cocoa,  or  cacao,  as  it  should  be  written,  is,  next 
to  sugar,  the  most  important  article  of  Trinidadian 
growth  and  export.  Being  far  less  profitable  than 
sugar,  and  prospering  only  in  virgin  lands,  it  is  be 
lieved  that  it  will  ultimately  go  out  of  cultivation. 
These  plantations  cover  about  7000  acres,  yielding 
over  two  pounds  per  tree,  or  about  700  pounds  per 
acre.  Cotton,  coffee,  and  tobacco  can  all  be  cultivated 
in  Trinidad ;  but  the  first  two  could  not,  by  any  pos 
sibility,  be  made  as  profitable  to  the  planter  as  sugar, 
and  the  cultivation  of  the  last  is  not  encouraged, 
though  at  the  London  Exhibition  of  1851  a  specimen 


*        THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  103 

of  Trinidad  tobacco  was  considered  only  inferior  to 
the  Havana.  But,  for  the  present,  the  paramount  ob 
ject  of  the  Trinidad  proprietary  is  to  obtain  labor  and 
increase  the  cultivation  of  the  cane ;  other  things  will 
follow  in  course  of  time.  A  move  which  requires 
early  attention  is  the  release  of  a  portion  of  the  lands, 
exceeding  altogether  a  million  of  acres,  locked  up  in 
the  possession  of  the  crown.  Out  of  the  entire  island 
only  213,292  acres  have  been  appropriated  to  private 
persons.  It  can  not  be  the  intention  of  government 
to  monopolize  these  lands,  but  a  disposition  is  certain 
ly  evinced  to  throw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  their  set 
tlement.  It  is  difficult  to  understand  the  motives  for 
such  a  policy  now  that  the  planters  obtain  labor  from 
abroad,  and  no  longer  fear  a  decrease  of  the  force 
through  the  establishment  of  a  small  proprietary 
body.  At  one  time  they  adopted  every  means  in 
their  power  to  crush  out  the  small  proprietors.  It 
was  a  foolish  effort,  but  an  apology  for  it  existed  then 
that  does  not  exist  now. 

With  the  advantages  that  Trinidad  offers  to  agricul 
tural  industry,  it  is  a  wonder  why  immigration  does 
not  set  in  here  from  the  British  isles.  A  few  of  the 
exiled  Chartists  came  to  the  island  some  years  ago, 
and  all  are  doing  well.  The  climate  is  glorious ;  es 
sentially  tropical,  but  tempered  with  pleasant  breezes. 
The  thermometer  averages  80°,  and  seldom  rises  or 
sinks  below  that  figure ;  the  heat  does  not  exceed  the 
heat  of  New  York  in  June,  July,  and  August.  In 
spite  of  occasional  visitations  of  yellow  fever,  the  aver 
age  mortality  in  Port-of-Spain  is  not  greater  than  that 
of  London,  and  not  so  great  as  that  of  New  York. 
From  what  I  have  seen  of  the  yellow  fever  in  the 


104      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

West  Indies,  I  am  convinced  that  nine  of  its  victims 
out  of  ten  are  people  of  intemperate  habits.  There  is 
one  disease — a  fearful  one — that  seems  to  be  indigen 
ous  to  Trinidad :  it  is  leprosy.  There  is  a  leper  asy 
lum  a  short  distance  from  the  capital,  but  the  afflicted 
are  not  under  compulsion  to  enter  it.  The  conse 
quence  is  that  mendicant  lepers  may  be  found  beg 
ging  on  the  highways,  and  in  the  streets  of  Port-of- 
Spain,  most  loathsome  objects  to  contemplate. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  105 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE  CKEOLES  OF  AFEICAN  DESCENT. 

Port-of-Spain,  Trinidad,  1859. 

THE  population  of  Trinidad,  according  to  the  cen 
sus  of  1851,  was,  in  round  numbers,  69,000  souls.  No 
census  has  been  taken  since ;  and  the  great  mortality 
by  the  cholera  of  1854  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  large 
increase  by  immigration  on  the  other — the  exact  fig 
ures  of  either  being  unknown — have  combined  to  leave 
us  in  uncertainty  upon  this  important  point.  I  have 
heard  the  number  of  actual  inhabitants  of  Trinidad 
estimated  at  70,000,  80,000,  90,000,  and  even  100,000. 
I  take  a  medium,  and  think  it  safe  to  put  down  the 
population  of  1858  at  80,000  souls.  The  inhabit 
ants  are  a  curious  mixture  of  races — European,  Asi 
atic,  African,  and  American.  Originally  settled  by  a 
few  Spanish  families,  and  deemed  insignificant  as  com 
pared  with  the  gold  and  silver  regions  on  the  Main, 
Trinidad  failed  at  first  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
home  government,  and  as  late  as  1783  we  find  the  , 
population  only  2763,  of  whom  2032  were  Indians. 
About  this  time  an  immigration  from  the  French  isl 
ands  commenced,  and  in  ten  years  the  population  in 
creased  to  17,718,  including  10,009  slaves.  In  1797  / 
Trinidad  became,  by  conquest,  a  British  colony,  and 
the  Anglo-Saxon  was  added  to  the  French,  Spanish, 
African,  and  Indian  elements  of  its  population.  In- 
E2 


106      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

deed,  it  is  most  curious  to  observe  at  the  present  day, 
in  the  Trinidadian  Creoles  of  African  descent,  the 
types  of  the  three  European,  as  well  as  of  the  native 
American  races.  To  complicate  still  more  this  amal 
gamation  of  peoples,  there  have  been  imported  into 
the  colony  during  the  last  thirteen  years  about  18,000 
Eastern  laborers — principally  Indian  coolies — a  popu 
lation  which  is  fast  giving  to  the  island  its  only  want, 
a  laboring  class. 

The  ethnological  question  is  a  most  interesting  one, 
as  far  as  Trinidad  is  concerned,  for  in  it  is  involved 
the  success  or  failure  of  free  labor  in  the  island.  But 
before  attempting  to  form  any  opinion,  or  come  to  any 
conclusion,  pro  or  co?i.,  on  the  subject  of  free  labor,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  Trinidad  must  be  judged 
on  her  own  merits,  and  with  reference  to  no  other  isl 
and  or  colony  in  these  latitudes.  She  is  as  much  an 
exception  to  any  rule  or  any  general  idea  that  may 
be  formed  about  the  West  Indies  as  Barbados  is, 
though  nothing  can  be  more  complete  than  the  con 
trast  between  these  two  islands.  Trinidad  is  the  very 
opposite  of  Barbados  in  climate,  soil,  population,  and 
in  all  that  can  affect  a  country  or  its  inhabitants. 
Trinidad  is  a  new  island  very  recently  settled — Bar 
bados  had  a  population  of  60,000  two  centuries  ago. 
Trinidad  has  an  area  of  1,287,600  acres,  of  which 
about  60,000  only  are  under  cultivation.  Barbados, 
covering  some  106,000  acres,  is  cultivated  from  end 
to  end  like  a  garden.  Trinidad,  even  under  slavery, 
never  had  any  thing  like  an  adequate  laboring  popu 
lation.  Barbados  is  so  thickly  inhabited  that  work 
or  starvation  is  the  laborer's  only  choice.  In  Trini 
dad  land  is  exceedingly  rich,  plentiful,  and  cheap, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  107 

while  labor  is  scarce  and  extravagantly  high ;  in  Bar 
bados  land  is  dear  and  labor  is  comparatively  cheap. 
So  that  it  is  impossible  to  make  the  case  of  Barbados 
applicable,  in  any  one  particular,  to  Trinidad,  or  vice 
versa.  The  only  similarity  between  the  two  islands 
is  that  sugar  forms  the  staple  production  of  both,  and 
that  both  have  been  successful,  though  from  very  dif 
ferent  causes,  under  a  free-labor  system.  I  have  al 
ready  stated  my  conviction  that  each  "West  India  col 
ony  should  be  judged  on  its  own  merits,  for  I  do  be 
lieve  that  a  departure  from  this  rule — a  classification 
of  the  whole,  and  an  adoption  of  results  without  un 
derstanding  or  examining  particular  details — has  led 
to  much  error  and  inconsistent  argument.  Upon  this 
basis,  then,  and  no  other,  I  shall  give  the  result,  such 
as  it  is,  of  some  passing  observations  on  Trinidad  and 
her  condition  since  emancipation. 

The  majority  of  the  people  of  Trinidad  are  negroes 
and  half-castes.  They  include  Creoles  of  this  and  oth 
er  islands,  brought  here  in  the  days  of  slavery  and 
since ;  native  Africans  imported  as  free  laborers  from 
Sierra  Leone ;  Africans  taken  from  captured  slavers ; 
and  a  few  hundred  liberated  slaves,  who  emigrated  to 
this  island  about  sixteen  years  ago  from  the  United 
States.  Many  of  these  people  are  nearly,  and  some 
are  perfectly  white,  and  the  census,  probably  from  the 
fear  of  giving  offense,  does  not  classify  the  population 
according  to  color.  For  convenience'  sake  I  shall 
speak  of  all  the  colored  inhabitants  of  the  island  as 
Creoles  of  African  descent.  Their  number,  according 
to  the  best  information  I  can  obtain,  is  in  the  neigh 
borhood  of  50,000.  On  looking  back  to  the  period 
immediately  preceding  emancipation,  we  find  the  total 


108      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

number  of  slaves  to  have  been  about  21,000,  and  the 
free  colored  about  16,000.  Of  the  former  class  not 
more  than  11,000  were  field  laborers.  To-day  the 
number  of  Trinidadian  Creoles  attached  to  sugar  and 
cacao  estates  is  not  more  than  5000 ;  and  this  falling 
off  in  the  native  and  natural  laboring  force  has  been 
attributed  here,  as  in  other  islands — and,  I  must  add, 
without  very  much  reflection — to  the  effect  of  aboli 
tion,  to  the  indolence  of  the  negro,  and  his  refusal  to 
work  except  under  compulsion.  I  am  unable  to  arrive 
at  any  such  conclusion.  I  have  taken  some  pains  to 
trace  the  Creole  laborers  of  Trinidad  from  the  time  of 
emancipation — after  they  left  the  estates  and  dispersed 
— to  the  present  day,  and  the  great  majority  of  them 
can,  I  think,  be  followed  step  by  step,  not  downward 
in  the  path  of  idleness  and  poverty,  but  upward  in 
the  scale  of  civilization  to  positions  of  greater  inde 
pendence. 

Perhaps  in  no  island  was  impending  ruin,  conse 
quent  upon  emancipation,  so  glaring,  so  palpable,  so 
apparently  certain,  as  it  was  in  Trinidad  after  the  lib 
eration  of  the  slaves.  Unlike  other  Caribbean  islands, 
the  seasons  in  Trinidad  are  purely  tropical,  divided 
into  the  rainy  and  the  dry.  The  latter  only  lasts  five 
months,  and  if  the  planter  has  not  completed  his  crop 
operations  by  the  first  of  June  his  loss  is  certain  and 
irremediable.  For  this  reason  steady  labor  in  Trini 
dad  during  crop  season  was  and  is  of  paramount  im 
portance,  and  the  planters  had  every  reason  to  be 
alarmed  that,  in  this  island  above  all  others,  the  effect 
of  emancipation  would  be  to  deprive  them  of  that  con 
tinuous  labor  with  which  they  were  already  so  scantily 
supplied.  Here  was  a  country  covering  1,287,600 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  109 

acres,  of  which  over  a  million  of  acres  of  rich  land 
were  capable  of  cultivation,  with  only  some  30,000 
acres  already  grown  in  canes,  cacao,  coffee,  and  pas 
ture.  The  result  which  the  planters  apprehended— 
namely,  that  the  emancipated  laborers  would  prefer 
cultivating  their  own  land  when  land  could  be  bought 
at  a  nominal  cost — might  have  been  apprehended 
with  equal  propriety  in  any  other  country  in  the 
world  where  an  abundance  of  rich  territory  offered 
the  most  tempting  invitation  to  settlers.  This  very 
result  happens  in  all  new  countries  where  men  are 
free  to  act  for  themselves  and  to  advance  their  own 
interests.  There  labor  is  necessarily  high — often  not 
to  be  procured  at  any  price  at  all.  Trinidad,  after 
emancipation,  was  a  parallel  case  to  most  of  the  newly- 
settled  American  territories,  with  the  difference — a 
most  important  one — that  she  had  the  evil  of  tropical 
seasons  to  contend  against.  The  laborers,  as  soon  as 
they  were  free,  asked,  and  for  a  time  received,  higher 
wages  than  the  planters,  encumbered  as  their  property 
was  with  debt,  could  afford  to  pay ;  and  when  this  rate 
of  wages  was  subsequently  reduced,  the  majority  of 
the  emancipated  deserted  the  estates  to  better  their 
condition  and  to  seek  a  more  independent  livelihood. 
A  very  large  number  purchased  small  tracts  of  land 
and  began  to  plant  for  themselves ;  a  few  squatted  on 
crown  lands,  of  which  the  government  holds  an  enor 
mous  proportion ;  while  many  took  to  trade,  and,  set 
ting  up  as  petty  shopkeepers  in  the  towns,  pursued  a 
calling  more  congenial  with  their  tastes  and  inclina 
tions.  The  planters  vainly  endeavored  to  remedy  the 
evil;  in  vain  they  adopted  most  stringent  measures 
to  prevent  the  increase  of  small  proprietors,  and  keep 


110      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

up,  by  such  unnatural  means,  a  sufficient  laboring 
force  for  the  estates.  They  imposed  heavy  taxes  on 
all  lands  and  buildings  except  those  devoted  to  sugar 
manufacture.  But  their  measures  were  futile;  their 
policy,  as  I  attempted  to  show  in  a  former  chapter  on 
Barbados,  was  suicidal.  Instead  of  endeavoring  to 
promote  a  good  understanding  between  themselves 
and  their  laborers,  the  planters  adopted  and  still  re 
tain  in  Trinidad  the  odious  system  of  tenancy  at  will. 
The  laborer  who  lives  on  an  estate  is  compelled  to 
work  for  that  estate,  and  no  other,  on  peril  of  sum 
mary  ejection,  with  consequent  loss  of  the  crop  which 
he  has  raised  on  his  little  allotment.  He  is  still  in  a 
position  of  virtual  slavery,  and  it  is  a  matter  which 
can  excite  no  surprise  that,  after  emancipation,  those 
who  had  means  to  purchase  parcels  of  ground  should 
have  preferred  to  leave  the  estates,  and  either  cultivate 
for  themselves  or  be  free  to  give  their  labor  to  whom 
they  pleased,  upon  their  own  terms,  and  in  a  way 
which  would  secure  for  themselves  and  their  families 
a  greater  independence.  They  accordingly  did  leave 
the  estates ;  and  in  a  few  years  after  abolition,  the 
majority  of  the  entire  laboring  force — itself  always  in 
adequate  to  the  wants  of  the  large  and  rapidly  devel 
oping  colony — were  lost  to  the  proprietary.  Several 
estates,  for  want  of  necessary  labor,  were  deserted,  and 
at  one  time  it  seemed  probable  that  sugar  cultivation 
in  Trinidad  would  be  altogether  abandoned. 

We  have  now  an  insight  into  the  course  pursued 
by  those  11,000  field  laborers  of  Trinidad  who  twen 
ty  years  ago  were  released  from  bondage,  and  the 
knowledge  leads  to  some  important  conclusions  close 
ly  affecting  the  question  of  emancipation.  Of  the  en- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  Ill 

tire  number  about  four  thousand  remained  on  the  es 
tates.  These  men,  in  spite  of  all  drawbacks — in  spite 
of  an  illiberal  tenure  and  a  lower  rate  of  wages  than 
they  could  command  elsewhere,  continued  steadfast  in 
their  attachment  to  the  land  upon  which  they  were 
born ;  but,  like  the  laboring  population  of  Barbados, 
which,  from  its  density,  was-  compelled  to  remain  in  a 
servile  condition,  the  estate  laborers  of  Trinidad  have 
not  progressed  as  their  brethren  have  progressed  in 
general  intelligence  and  worldly  prosperity.  They 
supply  labor  to  nearly  all  the  cacao  estates ;  but  com 
paratively  few  are  to  be  met  with  on  the  sugar  plant 
ations.  As  for  that  portion  of  the  Creole  laboring 
population  which  left  the  estates,  and  which  I  estimate 
at  7000, 1  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  their  material 
condition  has  been  very  much  improved,  though  for  a 
time  their  desertion  threw  the  planting  interest  into 
the  greatest  embarrassment.  Five  sixths  of  them  be 
came  proprietors  of  from  one  to  ten  acres,  which  they 
now  own,  and  which  they  grow  in  provisions  for  them 
selves  and  families ;  to  supply  other  wants  they  give 
casual  labor  to  the  estates.  But  they  are  free  of  the 
estates,  and  can  work  for  whom  they  please,  or  whom 
they  deem  the  best  paymaster.  If  any  one  doubts 
that  a  very  large — a  very  astonishing  number  of  the 
emancipated  laborers  have  become  independent  pro 
prietors,  let  him  look  at  the  score  of  villages  built  up 
since  abolition,  and  so  thickly  scattered  throughout 
the  cultivated  districts  of  Trinidad  that  it  would  be 
superfluous  in  me  to  point  them  out.  I  am  merely 
stating  a  fact  which  no  one  who  has  visited  Trinidad 
will  think  of  denying.  The  labor  of  these  men,  not 
being  a  continuous  or  certain  labor,  is  lightly  esteem- 


112      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ed  by  the  planter,  and  hence  they  are  not  classed  as 
belonging  to  the  regular  working  force  of  the  island. 
Yet  I  have  been  assured  that  during  crop-time  as 
many  as  four  or  five  thousand  of  these  independent 
laborers  and  small  proprietors  will  work  on  the  es 
tates;  and  I  do  not  think  the  proportion  so  small 
when  the  large  numbers  of  Creoles  engaged  in  trade 
are  taken  into  consideration. 

I  am  astonished  at  the  utter  disregard  of  the  first 
principles  of  economical  science  displayed  by  the  West 
India  planters.  They  do  not  seem  to  reflect  for  a 
moment  that  the  interest  of  a  proprietor  is  to  elevate, 
not  to  degrade,  his  laborer.  They  have  misjudged 
the  negro  throughout,  and  have  put  too  much  faith  in 
his  supposed  inferiority.  After  the  important  step  of 
emancipation  was  taken,  little  was  done  to  turn  eman 
cipation  to  the  best  account.  I  deny  that  these  peo 
ple  lack  industry  when  by  industry  they  can  add  to 
their  means  or  advance  their  prosperity.  Nor  can  I 
agree  with  the  West  India  planter  who  denounces  the 
Creole  laborers  as  thriftless  vagabonds  because  they 
have  preferred  independence  to  servitude,  or  the  pur 
suit  of  trade  to  that  of  agriculture.  Unquestionably 
there  is  a  certain  amount  of  idleness  and  vagabond 
ism  among  the  Creole  laborers  of  Trinidad,  but  I  see 
no  evidence  that  these  vices  exist  in  a  larger  propor 
tion  among  them  than  they  would  exist  among  any 
other  class  of  laborers  similarly  situated.  In  leaving 
the  estates  the  great  majority  were  actuated  by  a  de 
sire  to  better  their  circumstances  and  to  lead  a  more 
independent  life.  Land  was  cheap  and  abundant,  and 
they  preferred  to  have  their  own  property  rather  than 
labor  at  low  wages  in  a  condition  of  precarious  servi- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  113 

tude.  Added  to  this,  the  course  of  the  planters  con 
tributed  greatly  to  the  very  evil  which  they  dreaded, 
and  from  which  they  afterward  so  severely  suffered. 
Instead  of  endeavoring  by  liberal  terms  to  induce  the 
laborers  to  remain  on  the  estates,  they  commenced  a 
system  shortly  after  emancipation  of  giving  less  wages 
and  exacting  more  work ;  and  when  the  laborers  re 
tired,  as  they  did,  from  estate  to  field  work,  they  were 
summarily  ejected  from  the  houses  and  lands  they  oc 
cupied  on  the  estates,  and  their  provision  -  grounds 
were  destroyed.  The  emancipated  laborers  had,  there 
fore,  no  resource  left  but  to  separate  themselves  from 
the  planting  interest. 

In  the  observations  I  have  made  I  have  spoken 
principally  of  that  portion  of  the  emancipated  class 
which  remained  agriculturists.  Those  who  forsook 
field  labor  for  trade  offer  also  an  apology  for  their 
course,  though  its  wisdom  we  may  be  permitted  to 
question.  Work  in  the  cane -fields  was  the  negro's 
sole  occupation  in  the  days  of  slavery,  and  this  species 
of  work  he  is  now  disposed  to  look  upon  as  degrad 
ing,  and  to  fancy  that  it  drags  him  back  to  the  condi 
tion  of  (servitude  from  which  he  has  been  liberated. 
Here  we  find  an  explanation  of  the  large  and  utterly 
disproportionate  numbers  of  colored  people  engaged 
in  trade — from  keeping  a  store  down  to  selling  a  six 
pence-worth  of  mangoes  on  the  street.  Not  only  have 
the  tradesmen  of  1830  and  the  free  Creoles  of  that  pe 
riod  continued  to  follow  mercantile  and  mechanical 
pursuits,  but  the  laborers  after  they  were  freed  made 
every  exertion  to  bring  up  their  children  as  traders 
or  mechanics,  and  the  consequence  is,  that  to-day  these 
professions  in  Trinidad  are  almost  entirely  supplied 


114      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

from  the  colored  population.  If  we  take  Port-of- 
Spain  as  an  illustration,  we  find  that  four  fifths  of  the 
inhabitants,  Creoles  of  African  descent,  are  engaged 
in  trade,  and  their  condition,  I  must  add,  is  one  of 
prosperity  and  independence.  I  have  personal  knowl 
edge  of  many  instances  where  great  wealth  has  been 
accumulated  by  men  who  were  slaves  themselves  a 
quarter  of  a  century  ago.  Trade  seems  to  be  the  des 
tiny  of  the  Trinidadian  Creoles,  for  the  position  they 
once  occupied  as  tillers  of  the  soil  is  already  filled  by 
another  race. 

The  moral  condition  of  the  people  whom  I  have 
thus  briefly  endeavored  to  trace  from  the  time  of  slav 
ery  down  to  the  present  day,  has  not  kept  pace  with 
their  material  prosperity,  and  all  I  have  said  of  Barba 
dians  in  a  former  chapter,  under  this  particular  head, 
may  with  still  greater  force  be  applied  to  Trinidad- 
ians.  The  amalgamation  of  the  European  and  Afri 
can  races  is  even  more  general  in  Trinidad  than  in 
Barbados;  and  though  marriage  between  whites  and 
people  of  color  is  not  opposed  here  with  any  thing 
like  the  feeling  it  meets  with  in  Barbadian  society,  yet 
I  find,  on  examination,  that  in  Port-of-Spain  the  ratio 
of  births  is  100  legitimate  to  136  illegitimate — an  ex 
hibition  of  morality  considerably  below  that  of  Ha 
vana.  I  may  say  that  the  so-called  prejudices  against 
color  are  less  to  be  observed  in  Trinidad  than  in 
any  other  island.  Perhaps  it  is  that  there  are  more 
wealthy  and  intelligent  Creoles  here  than  in  other  col 
onies,  and  I  can  assert,  from  my  own  experience,  that 
Trinidad  can  boast  of  many  colored  planters  and  mer 
chants  who  in  mind  and  manner  are  most  accomplish 
ed  gentlemen.  But,  as  I  said  before,  the  great  mass 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  115 

of  the  colored  population  do  not  exhibit  any  remark 
able  improvement  in  morality.  Taking  up  the  mat 
ter  of  crime,  I  find  that  the  annual  average  of  convict 
ed  offenders  for  the  last  five  years  is,  for  felony,  63 ; 
for  misdemeanor,  865,  and  for  debt,  230 ;  against  a 
much  lower  average  before  emancipation.  It  is  to  be 
observed  that  theft  is  the  principal  crime  under  the 
head  of  misdemeanor.  Arson  is  frequent,  and  the 
perpetrators  are  discovered  with  great  difficulty ;  more 
often  they  go  unpunished.  The  criminal  records  of 
Trinidad  show  that  a  majority  of  the  felonies  have 
been  committed  in  uncontrollable  ebullitions  of  anger ; 
in  the  minor  offenses  the  most  curious  deliberation 
and  cunning  are  often  apparent.  It  is  also  a  fact 
worthy  of  remark  that  the  county  of  Victoria  gives 
the  largest  proportion  of  offenders.  This  is  the  most 
important  agricultural  district  of  the  colony ;  but 
while  it  gives  the  largest  number  of  criminals,  it 
shows  at  the  same  time  the  lowest  proportion  of  small 
independent  proprietors,  as  well  as  by  far  the  greatest 
number  of  estate  laborers.  The  inference  is,  that  that 
portion  of  the  emancipated  class  which  left  the  estates 
attained  a  higher  status  of  morality,  as  they  undoubt 
edly  did  of  material  prosperity,  by  the  course  they 
pursued,  though  that  course  was  directly  hostile  to 
the  planting  interest. 

Trinidad,  like  all  the  other  islands,  is  lamentably 
behind  the  age  in  educational  science,  and  there  is 
ample  room  to  hope  that  when  knowledge  becomes 
more  general  crime  will  decrease.  Educational  sta 
tistics  do  not  show  that  there  is  any  great  eagerness 
on  the  part  of  the  Creole  population  to  learn,  or  on  the 
part  of  their  rulers  to  place  the  means  of  instruction 


116      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

within  their  reach.  Before  emancipation,  the  number 
of  children  attending  public  and  private  schools  was 
above  a  thousand ;  last  year  the  average  of  children 
attending  all  the  schools  and  seminaries  was  consider 
ably  under  3000,  accounting  for  little  more  than  the 
natural  increase  of  the  population.  In  fact,  no  gener 
al  system  of  public  instruction  was  introduced  until 
1851 ;  but  that  system  has  many  excellent  features. 
The  schools  were  made  purely  secular ;  a  board  of  ed 
ucation  and  an  inspectorship  of  schools  were  -created ; 
also,  a  school  for  training  masters  and  mistresses, 
whose  efficiency  for  office  is  determined  by  the  strict 
est  scrutiny.  The  estimate  for  educational  expenses 
in  Trinidad  this  year  is  $20,000.  In  regard  to  church 
statistics,  I  have  no  means  of  ascertaining  the  number 
of  persons  who  attend  places  of  Divine  worship  in  this 
island ;  but  were  they  in  my  possession  I  should  not 
have  much  faith  in  them  as  an  evidence  of  the  moral 
or  religious  tone  of  the  community.  To  judge  from 
appearances,  the  Creole  inhabitants  of  Port-of-Spain 
are  even  fonder  than  Barbadians  of  showing  off  their 
Sunday  garments.  More  than  one  half  of  the  entire 
population  of  the  island  are  Romanists,  and  the  supe 
rior  zeal  of  the  Catholic  Church  to  secure  proselytes 
may  account  for  the  outward  devotion  of  its  chil 
dren. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  117 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  SCHEME  OF  ASIATIC  IMMIGRATION. 

Port-of-Spain,  Trinidad,  1859. 

I  ENDEAVORED  to  show  in  the  last  chapter — what 
is,  indeed,  a  matter  of  historical  record — that  within 
a  few  years  after  the  emancipation  of  the  slaves  in 
Trinidad,  a  large  proportion  of  Creole  labor,  always 
inadequate  to  the  demand,  was  lost  to  the  estates — 
not  as  some  suppose,  through  the  idleness  of  the  ne 
gro,  but  from  his  natural  aspirations  after  greater  in 
dependence,  and  his  very  commendable  desire  to  im 
prove  his  circumstances.  The  Creoles  did  not  leave 
the  estates  as  soon  as  they  were  free ;  they  waited  un 
til  they  had  acquired  sufficient  means  to  purchase  land ; 
and  it  was  not  until  18-M  that  the  planters  felt  in  its 
full  force  the  severity  of  the  loss  they  had  sustained. 
During  this  and  several  subsequent  years,  the  gloom 
iest  apprehensions  were  entertained,  and  it  was  feared 
that  sugar  cultivation  would  be  entirely  abandoned  in 
the  island.  In  justice  to  the  Trinidad  proprietary,  it 
must  be  said  that  they  did  not  yield  to  misfortune. 
They  were  a  new  race  compared  with  the  ancient  pro 
prietary  of  Barbados  or  Jamaica,  and,  with  more  life, 
intelligence,  and  energy,  they  made  every  exertion 
that  men  could  make  to  extricate  themselves  from 
their  difficulties.  Inter-colonial  immigration  was  en 
couraged,  and  captains  of  vessels  were  offered  a  boun- 


118      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ty  for  every  laborer  brought  to  Trinidad.  This  im 
migration  has  been  large  and  useful  in  its  way,  but  it 
is  at  all  times  uncertain,  and  can  not  be  depended 
upon.  The  Creoles  from  other  islands  are  not  bound 
by  any  contract  to  labor  on  the  estates,  and,  like  their 
brethren  in  Trinidad,  they  will  quit  the  estates  as  soon 
as  they  have  means  to  do  so.  Some  may  remain  in 
Trinidad  as  small  proprietors,  but  many  return  home. 
The  system,  moreover,  has  given  rise  to  much  fraud. 
Creoles  are  taken  away  and  reintroduced  to  obtain  the 
bounty,  and  this  nefarious  practice,  I  understand,  is 
still  successfully  kept  up.  By  the  latest  report  of  the 
agent  general  for  immigrants,  it  appears  that  the  num 
ber  of  laborers,  Creoles  of  Trinidad,  who  are  now 
working  on  the  sugar  estates,  is  3832,  and  the  number 
of  laborers,  Creoles  of  other  islands,  is  4041.  Adding 
to  these  the  estimated  number  of  Creole  laborers  on 
the  cacao  estates,  there  would  be  a  total  of  about 
5000  Creole  laborers  of  Trinidad,  and  the  same  num 
ber  of  Creole  laborers  from  other  islands  actually  at 
work  during  the  harvest  season.  I  say  during  the 
harvest  season,  because  many  of  the  Creole  laborers 
from  other  islands  are  not  permanent  residents  of 
Trinidad,  but  return  home  as  soon  as  crop  operations 
are  over. 

The  planters  of  Trinidad  have  also  encouraged  im 
migration  from  Canada  and  the  United  States,  and  sev 
eral  hundred  people  of  color  did  actually  come  from 
the  Eepublic;  but  being  principally  tradesmen  and 
mechanics — a  class  too  numerous  already — they  were 
of  no  advantage  to  the  planting  interest.  Several 
thousand  Africans,  liberated  from  slavery,  and  a  few 
hundred  voluntary  emigrants  from  the  Kroo  coast, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  119 

were  a  valuable  accession  to  the  labor  force  of  the 
island;  but  the  supply  was  limited  and  insufficient. 
The  number  of  native  Africans  on  the  estates  at  pres 
ent  is  2885.  The  total  importation  of  negroes,  includ 
ing  Creoles  from  other  islands,  Africans  and  Ameri 
cans,  amounts  to  20,000 ;  and  if  they  could  have  been 
retained,  they,  with  the  Creole  laborers  of  Trinidad, 
would  have  sufficed  at  least  for  immediate  want.  But 
many  of  them  returned  home ;  others  bought  land  for 
themselves,  or  engaged  in  trade  or  as  domestics ;  and 
the  remnant  of  this  immigration,  and  of  the  native 
Trinidad  laboring  force  now  working  on  the  sugar 
and  cacao  properties,  does  not  exceed  13,000  estate 
and  day  laborers.  I  am  of  decided  opinion  that  the 
tenure  system  of  Trinidad  has  strengthened  the  dislike 
of  the  negro  to  perform  estate  work.  It  is  true  that 
the  Trinidad  planter  exacts  no  rent  from  the  laborer 
on  his  estate,  and  supplies  him  with  medical  attend 
ance  ;  but  the  laborer,  in  return,  is  compelled  to  work 
for  the  estate  alone,  and  for  five  cents  a  day  less  than 
the  current  rate  of  wages.  It  may  be  urged,  and  with 
truth,  that  house -rent  and  medical  attendance  are 
worth  more  than  five  cents  a  day ;  but  for  these  priv 
ileges  the  laborer  is  required  to  give  up  his  independ 
ence,  and  I  do  not  think  it  natural  that  even  the  negro 
should,  of  his  own  free  choice,  prefer  the  exchange. 

It  will  thus  be  seen  that  the  exertions  made  by  the 
planters  to  obtain  Creole  labor  were  only  partially 
successful,  and  the  unremunerative  outlay  to  which 
they  were  subjected  swelled  the  number  of  encumber 
ed  estates.  But  desperate  circumstances  stimulate  ex 
ertion,  and  the  importation  of  foreign  labor,  after  the 
successful  example  of  the  Mauritius,  was  finally  at- 


120      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IX 

tempted.  The  first  ship  with  Chinese  immigrants  ar 
rived  in  the  harbor  of  Port-of-Spain  in  1845.  But 
the  importation  of  Indian  coolies  was  soon  substituted 
for  that  of  Chinese.  The  experiment  remained  for 
some  time  very  doubtful.  The  laborers  arrived  for 
several  years  in  small  detachments,  and  at  long  inter 
vals  ;  and  they  were  brought  from  the  opposite  ex 
tremity  of  the  world  at  an  enormous  cost.  They  had 
to  be  instructed,  and  from  the  day  on  which  the  first 
convoy  was  landed  down  to  the  year  1853,  no  one 
could  say  whether  the  plan  was  a  success  or  a  failure. 
But,  now  that  it  has  been  fairly  and  fully  tested,  the 
advantages  to  the  colony  of  this  importation  of  Indian 
labor  are  so  thoroughly  established  that  no  one  who 
visits  Trinidad  in  1859,  after  having  seen  her  and 
known  her  in  1846,  can  hesitate  to  believe  that  not 
only  has  the  island  been  saved  from  impending  ruin, 
/but  a  prospect  of  future  prosperity  has  been  opened  to 
'  her  such  as  no  British  island  in  these  seas  ever  before 
enjoyed  under  any  system,  slave  or  free.  I  am  speak 
ing  of  a  fact  which  is  apparent  to  every  one  who 
walks  the  streets  of  Port-of-Spain,  or  surveys  the 
splendid  picture  of  cultivation  which  the  Naparima 
counties  present.  There,  for  miles  and  miles,  you  can 
travel  over  undulating  land,  rich  with  waving  fields 
of  sugar-cane.  The  smoke  from  a  hundred  chimneys 
indicates  the  prevalent  use  of  steam,  and  strangely  con 
trasts  with  the  purely  tropical  aspect  of  the  country, 
checkered  as  it  is  with  dense  masses  of  shrub  or  groves 
of  mango,  and  fenced  in  with  rows  of  gigantic  palm. 
The  story  that  every  Naparima  planter  tells  is,  that 
within  the  last  ten  years  he  has  greatly  extended  and 
improved  the  cultivation  of  his  estate,  and  has  doub- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  121 

led  his  produce.  It  is  a  story  you  can  well  believe,  if, 
during  crop  season,  you  enter  the  mills  and  see  an 
average  of  from  six  to  eight  hogsheads  of  sugar  daily 
manufactured  in  each.  This  extension  of  culture — 
fully  borne  out  by  facts  and  statistics — is  increasing 
every  year,  and  the  consequence  is  that  every  year 
the  proprietary  are  demanding  more  and  more  labor. 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  they  will  continue  to  be  sup 
plied  through  the  means  of  a  system  beneficial  alike 
to  the  laborer  and  his  employer,  and  that  the  outcry 
raised  against  coolie  immigration  will  not  be  allowed 
to  prevail. 

I  shall  endeavor  in  this  chapter,  and  I  hope  with 
some  success,  to  present  such  information  as  I  have 
procured,  and  such  actual  observations  as  I  have  been 
enabled  to  make,  on  the  theory  and  practice  of  Trin 
idad  immigration.  I  can  not  consider  the  objections 
to  it  well  founded,  whether  they  be  judged  by  a 
standard  of  sound  colonial  polity,  or  in  the  higher  bal 
ance  of  rigid  morality.  The  most  serious  of  these  ob 
jections  is  that  injustice  is  done  to  the  coolie,  and  to 
that  I  now  direct  attention. 

The  chief  feature  in  Trinidad  immigration  is  its  en 
tire  management  on  the  responsibility,  not  merely  of 
the  colony,  but  of  the  government  and  people  of 
Great  Britain.  Private  speculation  has  no  directing 
voice  in  the  scheme.  It  was  not  started  for  the  ag 
grandizement  of  the  planter,  but  to  stimulate  his  pros 
trate  energies,  to  benefit  coolie  as  much  as  Creole,  and 
to  multiply  resources  that  slavery,  during  long  years 
of  sore  trial,  was  powerless  to  develop.  The  immi 
grants,  then,  are  under  the  close  surveillance  of  gov 
ernment,  and  no  planter,  were  he  so  disposed,  can 

F 


122      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

wrong  them  with  impunity.  A  superintendent,  or 
agent  general,  of  immigrants  is  appointed,  and  is  in 
vested  with  special  powers.  He  acts  on  behalf  of  the 
government  as  the  immigrant's  protector.  He  indent 
ures  them  to  their  employers ;  keeps  a  register,  with 
the  names  and  other  particulars  of  both  parties  to  the 
contract ;  provides  food  for  those  immigrants  who  are 
not  employed  immediately  on  their  arrival ;  sees  that 
husbands  are  not  separated  from  wives,  or  children 
from  parents ;  visits  and  inspects  the  condition  of  the 
immigrants  on  the  estates ;  and  is  required  to  obtain 
from  the  planters  quarterly  returns,  in  which  the  in 
crease  by  birth  and  decrease  by  death  of  the  laborers 
on  each  estate,  with  other  specified  particulars,  must 
be  fully  stated.  The  reports  are  transmitted  to  the 
government  by  the  agent  general.  This  officer  has 
also  power  to  cancel  any  immigrant's  indenture  if  it 
shall  appear  to  him  that  the  man  has  been  ill  used  by 
his  employer,  or  that  the  accommodation  or  medical 
attendance  to  which  he  is  entitled  is  bad  or  insuffi 
cient.  The  system  of  government  supervision  is,  in 
fact,  perfect  and  complete,  and  the  consideration  paid 
to  the  wants  and  comforts  of  the  immigrant  is  carried 
to  a  point  that  many  consider  injurious  to  the  plant 
ing  interest. 

When  I  speak  of  coolie  immigration  to  Trinidad 
I  mean  immigration  exclusively  from  British  India. 
This  is  the  only  immigration  conducted  here  on  a 
large  scale,  and  for  it  all  other  plans  have  been  very 
properly  abandoned.  It  is  merely  removing  British 
subjects  from  one  portion  of  the  empire  to  another, 
where  the  prospects  of  the  laborer  are  infinitely  bet 
ter  and  brighter.  He  is  indentured  in  order  that  the 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  123 

parties  who  have  suffered  the  expense  of  his  importa 
tion  may  be  guaranteed  from  loss.  A  clerk,  sent  from 
England  to  the  Colonial  Bank  in  Trinidad  or  Barba 
dos,  receives  his  traveling  expenses,  and  is  indentured 
in  the  same  way,  though  with  this  disadvantage,  that, 
if  found  inefficient,  he  can  be  turned  adrift ;  the  coolie, 
on  the  contrary,  if  inefficient,  must  be  retained  or  sent 
back  home;  and,  if  disabled  by  sickness,  must  be 
properly  cared  for.  It  has  been  stated  that  the  Brit 
ish  coolie  immigration  is  cruelly  conducted,  but  I  can 
affirm  that  the  very  reverse  is  the  case.  The  coolies 
are  imported  from  Madras  and  Calcutta  at  a  general 
expense  to  the  colony — to  meet  which  a  duty  has 
been  imposed  upon  rum — and  at  a  special  cost  to  the 
employer  of  about  $25  per  head.  The  law  provides 
for  their  free  return  after  they  have  completed  the 
term  of  industrial  residence  for  which  they  were  in 
dentured.  They  are  perfectly  free  men  and  women, 
and  at  their  own  option  leave  the  squalid  filth  and 
misery  in  which  they  have  been  accustomed  to  live,  on 
a  promise,  guaranteed  by  government,  of  a  free  pas 
sage  to  the  West  Indies,  certain  employment,  and  fair 
remuneration  for  their  services.  Upon  arriving  here 
they  have  no  thought  or  care  about  the  future.  They 
are  immediately  provided  for.  They  live  on  the  estates 
rent  free  in  comfortable  cottages ;  if  sick,  they  receive 
medical  attendance  without  charge ;  and  their  wages 
are  five  times  more  than  they  could  earn  at  home.  The 
physical  appearance  of  a  crowd  of  coolie  immigrants  re 
turning  to  India  attests  the  beneficent  results  to  them 
selves  of  an  industrial  residence  in  Trinidad.  In 
stead  of  being  a  set  of  naked,  half-starved,  gibbering 
savages,  ready  to  eat  any  dead,  putrid  animal,  fish, 


124      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

flesh,  or  fowl  that  lay  in  their  path,  they  are  clothed, 
sleek  and  well  fed,  strong  and  able-bodied,  speaking 
English  with  tolerable  accuracy,  and  looking  the  in 
telligent  people  that  they  really  are.  I  have  seen 
them  arrive  and  I  have  seen  them  depart,  and  speak 
from  actual  observation.  After  they  are  landed  from 
the  ship,  not  only  families,  but  people  from  the  same 
district  are  kept  together ;  their  wants  are  immediate 
ly  cared  for,  and,  the  prospects  of  work  and  wages  be 
ing  certain,  their  condition  is  far  more  comfortable 
and  encouraging  than  that  of  the  mass  of  Irish  immi 
grants  who  arrive  every  week  in  the  city  of  New 
York.  So  jealously  does  the  imperial  government 
watch  over  the  interests  of  the  coolies  that  no  more 
than  350  or  360  can  be  carried  in  a  first-class  ship. 
They  are  not  more  crowded  than  steerage  passengers 
in  an  ocean  steamer — not  half  so  crowded  as  a  regi 
ment  in  a  troop-ship  going  to  the  East — and  the  mor 
tality  among  them,  considering  their  wretched  and 
impoverished  condition  when  placed  on  board,  is  in 
considerable.  During  the  voyages  from  Madras  this 
year  the  deaths  among  the  coolies  have  only  amount- 
"ed  to  three  quarters  per  cent. 

The  pretension  of  excessive  mortality  on  board  the 
coolie  ships  is  positively  untrue,  as  far,  at  least,  as 
Trinidad  is  concerned.  Among  the  Madras  immi 
grants  the  mortality  on  the  voyage  is  not  higher  than 
it  would  be  if  they  remained  in  their  own  villages ; 
and  if  the  mortality  among  the  Calcutta  immigrants 
be  greater — and  I  believe  it  averages  five  per  cent. — 
it  arises  from  the  fact  that  British  agents  are  permit 
ted  to  engage  these  laborers  in  a  weak  and  sickly  con 
dition — men  who  would  die  at  home  quite  as  readily 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  125 

as  on  board  a  vessel.  This  is  strictly  prohibited  un 
der  the  French  system,  and  we  accordingly  find  that, 
though  the  British  only  carry  one  immigrant  for  ev 
ery  three  tons  measurement,  and  the  French  carry 
one  immigrant  for  every  ton,  the  average  mortality 
among  Africans  on  the  voyage  to  Martinique  while 
that  immigration  lasted  was  only  one  per  cent. 

It  is  impossible  to  imagine  the  rights  of  any  people 
more  securely  guaranteed  than  are  those  of  the  In 
dian  coolies  who  emigrate  to  Trinidad.  That  they 
receive  adequate  compensation  for  their  services  is 
apparent  from  the  fact  that  all  who  return  home,  after 
completing  their  term  of  industrial  residence,  carry 
away  large  quantities  of  money.  I  heard  of  a  coolie 
the  other  day  who  returned,  after  a  residence  in  the 
island  of  ten  or  twelve  years,  with  $9000 ;  yet  this 
man  was  entitled  to,  and  actually  received,  a  free  pas 
sage  home.  A  ship-load  of  coolies,  going  back,  will 
take  with  them  from  $40,000  to  $50,000,  and,  un 
der  these  circumstances,  the  heavy  tax  imposed  upon 
the  colony  and  the  planting  interest  for  their  return- 
passage  must  be  considered  a  hardship,  if  not  a  posi 
tive  injustice.  By  a  colonial  ordinance,  passed  in 
185-i,  the  Indian  immigrants  who  have  arrived  subse 
quent  to  that  period  are  only  entitled  to  a  free  return 
after  a  residence  of  ten  years ;  but  the  principle  of 
granting  a  free  return  at  all  is  absurd.  After  making 
heavy  sacrifices  to  obtain  a  laboring  population,  the 
colony,  by  its  own  act,  deprives  itself  of  that  popula 
tion  as  soon  as  it  is  thoroughly  educated  and  inured 
to  service.  That  the  coolie  laborers  themselves  are 
fully  satisfied  with  their  condition  in  Trinidad  is  very 
evident  from  the  fact  that  large  numbers  remain  in 


126      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

spite  of  the  bonus,  for  it  is  nothing  else,  offered  them 
to  return.  After  they  have  fulfilled  their  terms  of 
service,  many  voluntarily  renew  their  contracts. 

The  "indenture"  of  which  I  have  spoken  is  the 
contract  of  service  into  which  the  immigrant  enters 
with  his  employer,  and  may  be  general  or  specific  in 
its  obligations  according  to  option.  The  immigrant  is 
indentured  for  three  years.  As  soon  as  that  period 
has  expired,  he  can  release  himself  from  any  subse 
quent  indenture  by  paying  $1  20  to  the  agent  gen 
eral  for  every  month  that  may  be  wanting  to  com 
plete  his  term.  After  the  immigrants  have  fulfilled 
the  obligations  to  which  they  bound  themselves,  they 
receive  a  certificate  of  what  is  called  "  industrial  resi 
dence,"  which  empowers  them  to  act  as  independent 
ly  as  they  choose  for  the  future.  Under  the  general 
contract — where  no  express  agreement  has  been  made 
to  the  contrary — the  immigrant  binds  himself  to  work, 
except  in  times  of  sickness  and  on  Sundays  and  holi 
days,  for  nine  hours  a  day.  By  refusing  or  neglect 
ing  to  work,  he  forfeits  his  claim  to  wages  for  the  time 
he  absents  himself,  and,  being  tried  for  the  offense, 
may,  on  conviction,  be  imprisoned  for  a  term  not  ex 
ceeding  fourteen  days. 

There  are  at  present  439  Chinese  and  about  6000  • 
Indian  coolie  laborers  of  both  sexes  on  the  sugar 
estates  of  Trinidad.  The  coolies  are  but  the  nucleus 
of  the  future  laboring  population  of  the  island,  which, 
if  as  thickly  settled  as  Barbados,  would  contain  a  mil 
lion  and  a  half  of  people.  Of  the  sixteen  thousand 
coolies  originally  imported  to  Trinidad  from  Madras 
and  Calcutta,  including  a  few  hundred  from  Cape 
de  Verd,  a  very  large  number  have  been  sent  home.  \ 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  127 

A  few  left  the  island  after  the  expiration  of  their 
terms  to  seek  their  fortunes  on  the  Spanish  Main. 
As  laborers  they  are  perhaps  not  all  that  the  planter 
could  desire.  They  have  not  the  endurance  or  strength 
of  the  Creole,  but  they  are  industrious  and  intelligent. 
They  are  gracefully  formed,  and,  upon  first  arriving, 
do  not  look  as  though  they  could  stand  the  labor  of 
the  fields  or  the  boiling-houses.  But  the  coolie  per 
severes  in  his  work — the  nature  of  which  he  learns 
quickly — and  soon  becomes  an  efficient  hand.  He  is 
mild  in  disposition  almost  to  effeminacy,  docile  and 
obedient,  contrasting  very  favorably,  in  this  respect, 
with  the  negro,  who  has  more  force  and  character,  and 
the  Chinaman,  who  has  more  cunning.  The  coolie  is 
not  addicted  to  crimes  of  violence.  In  the  Demarara 
riots  of  1856,  said  to  have  been  incited  by  the  maniac 
known  as  the  "Angel  Gabriel,"  but  which  were  a 
pure  outburst  of  Creole  vindictive  jealousy  against  the 
Portuguese  residents,  the  coolies  behaved  remarkably 
well,  and  the  governor,  in  his  report,  declared  that 
they  rendered  important  service  in  protecting  life  and 
property.  I  should  say,  as  far  as  the  Trinidad  coolies 
are  concerned,  that  their  extreme  docility  and  gentle 
ness  amounted  to  a  fault. 

Statistics  of  the  quantity  of  labor  performed  and  of 
wages  paid  on  this  island  show  some  interesting  re 
sults.  The  coolie  works,  on  an  average,  nineteen  and 
a  half  days  during  the  month,  and  receives  $5  35 ;  the 
Creole  of  Trinidad  works  sixteen  and  a  half  days,  and 
receives  $5  91 ;  the  Creole  from  abroad  works  sev 
enteen  and  a  half  days,  and  receives  $6  27 ;  the  Af 
rican  works  seventeen  days,  and  receives  $536;  and 
the  Chinaman  works  seventeen  days,  and  receives  $4 


128      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

27.  It  will  be  seen  by  this  exhibit  that  the  Creoles 
from  other  islands  are  considered  the  best  laborers,  for 
they  are  best  paid.  The  statement  further  shows  that 
no  injustice  is  done  to  the  coolie.  He  is  not  brought 
here  under  fair  promises,  and  afterward  compelled  to 
work,  as  I  have  seen  alleged,  for  a  sum  below  the 
market  rate. 

The  British  system  of  immigration  has  been  most 
unjustly  confounded  with  that  of  the  French  to  Mar 
tinique,  and  of  the  Spanish  to  Cuba.  In  the  first  case 
the  immigrants  have  all  their  rights  secured  by  gov 
ernment  guaranty  and  supervision,  and  no  immigra 
tion  on  private  account  is  permitted.  The  blessing  of 
giving  labor  and  life  to  the  colony  is  scarcely  equal  to 
the  blessing  that  this  immigration  scheme  has  confer 
red  upon  the  coolie  himself.  He  receives,  as  I  have 
said  before,  his  house-rent  and  medical  attendance 
free,  and  he  earns  from  $5  to  $6,  and  as  high  as  $10  a 
month,  which  he  is  at  perfect  liberty  to  dispose  of  as 
he  pleases.  A  poor  pagan,  he  is  brought  in  contact 
with  civilization,  and  soon  forgets  and  abandons  the 
gross  superstitions  in  which  he  was  wont  to  put  his 
faith.  Under  this  system  of  immigration  more  might 
be  done  toward  Christianizing  and  civilizing  the  peo 
ple  of  India  in  one  year  than  has  been  done  by  all  the 
missionaries  that  ever  migrated  to  the  East  under  the 
influence  of  the  most  enthusiastic  zeal.  The  coolies 
who  go  back  after  an  industrial  residence,  go  back  to 
spread  abroad  the  seeds  of  civilization  and  Christian 
ity,  and  on  this  ground  the  free  return  granted  by  the 
government  may  be  advocated  with  some  show  of 
reason.  While  in  the  colony,  every  provision  that 
the  law  can  make  is  made  for  the  education  and  in- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  129 

dustrial  training  of  coolie  children ;  and  coolie  orphans 
have  an  asylum  in  Trinidad,  which  one  or  two  lead 
ing  proprietors  have  established,  and  which,  in  all  the 
details  of  management,  is  equal  to  any  similar  institu 
tion  that  I  have  ever  been  permitted  to  visit.  The 
children  are  brought  up  as  Protestants ;  for  though 
the  Roman  Catholics  are  the  most  numerous  in  the  isl 
and,  they  are  not  willing  to  expend  the  money  or  the 
trouble  that  the  support  of  a  rival  institution  would 
require. 

I  have,  in  these  remarks,  endeavored  to  point  out 
how  carefully  guarded  are  the  rights  of  the  coolie  im 
migrant.  The  supposition  that,  by  his  introduction, 
an  injustice  is  done  to  the  Creole  laboring  population 
may  be  dismissed  with  a  very  few  words.  I  can  not 
believe  that  any  such  plea  is  advanced  by  intelligent 
and  responsible  persons,  who  have  not  been  misled  by 
falsehood  or  swayed  by  mistaken  zeal.  It  is  utterly 
contrary  to  common  sense  to  dream  that  the  planters 
of  Trinidad  would  plunge  into  heavy  expenditure  to 
obtain  this  immigration,  or  that  the  people  of  Trini 
dad  would  submit  to  taxation  for  the  same  object,  if 
the  labor  sought  abroad  could,  by  any  means,  be  pro 
cured  at  home.  I  have  shown,  in  the  commencement 
of  this  chapter,  what  tremendous  efforts  the  Trinidad 
proprietary  made  in  the  first  years  of  their  distress 
to  obtain  Creole  labor  from  other  islands,  and  how 
unsuccessful  those  efforts  were.  None  but  the  very 
worst  class  of  Creoles  will  leave  their  native  islands, 
and  this  fact  the  criminal  records  of  Trinidad  amply 
demonstrate.  If  the  reader  knows  any  thing  of  Trini 
dad,  he  will  know  that  never,  at  any  period  of  her 
history,  either  under  slavery  or  under  freedom,  could 
F2 


130      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

she  boast  of  sufficient  Creole  labor  for  the  proper  cul 
tivation  of  the  small  proportion  of  her  soil  that  has 
been  redeemed  from  wood-land  or  from  wilderness. 
And  when,  after  emancipation,  many  of  the  laborers 
left  the  estates  for  more  profitable  employment  or  a 
more  independent  status,  there  was  barely  a  sufficient 
number  left  to  cultivate  the  cacao  estates,  and  with 
out  immigration  the  growth  of  sugar  must  have  been 
entirely  abandoned.  The  coolies  have  saved  the  isl 
and  from  ruin,  but  so  far  they  have  not  nearly  sup 
plied  its  wants.  The  unfinished  look  of  Trinidadi- 
an  cane-fields,  and  the  inferior  quality  of  Trinidadian 
sugar,  tell  to-day  of  the  scanty  supply  of  labor  with 
which  the  planters  have  eked  out  cultivation,  and 
have  struggled  against  crushing  misfortunes.  But  if 
the  negroes  abandoned  agricultural  servitude  for  pur 
suits  more  advantageous  to  themselves,  or  more  con 
genial  to  their  tastes,  have  they  any  ground  for  com 
plaint  that  their  loss  has  been  supplied?  I  have 
maintained  the  superiority  of  the  negro  as  an  athletic 
and  industrious  laborer  when  he  is  properly  remuner 
ated  for  his  work;  and  I  have  justified  him  for  with 
drawing  from  that  work  when  he  could  do  better  in 
any  other  pursuit  that  he  chose  to  follow.  I  would 
justify  him  though  he  earned  no  more — though  he 
earned  less — upon  his  own  plot  than  he  did  on  an  es 
tate.  He  has  selected,  of  his  own  free  will,  a  life  of 
independence  to  one  of  servitude,  and  the  choice 
ought  never  to  be  urged  to  his  detriment  or  represent 
ed  as  his  shame.  I  have  passed  over  with  indiffer 
ence,  as  I  think  it  deserves  to  be  passed  over,  the  lam 
entation  of  the  planter  that  the  "  negro  won't  work," 
because  I  think  that,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  the  cry 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  131 

was  an  ebullition  of  selfish  disappointment  at  the  loss 
of  labor,  raised  with  little  consideration  for  its  truth, 
and  without  any  reference  to  the  subsequent  occupa 
tion  in  which  the  Creole  found  himself  engaged.  But 
it  is  most  unreasonable  to  say  that  because  the  Creole 
population  of  Trinidad  are  unwilling  to  work  in  the 
field,  be  the  reason  what  it  may,  the  deficiency  of  la 
bor — out  of  consideration  to  them  forsooth! — must 
not  be  supplied  from  any  other  legitimate  source. 
There  are  a  million  of  acres  in  Trinidad  waiting  for 
the  plow ;  and  supposing  that  every  Creole  was  ready 
to  undertake  field  labor,  the  entire  number  would  be 
insufficient  to  cultivate  one  tenth  of  the  island.  I  can 
not,  therefore,  comprehend  the  assertion  that  foreign 
labor  for  Trinidad  is  not  required,  nor  the  argument 
that  its  introduction  is  an  injury  to  the  Creole  popu 
lation.  I  can  not  believe  that  any  one  would  hold 
these  views  if  he  were  really  interested  in  the  devel 
opment  of  the  wonderful  resources  of  this  island. 

It  has  been,  again,  stated  that  the  introduction  of 
East  Indian  coolies  into  West  Indian  islands  has  ex 
cited  a  dangerous  jealousy  in  the  minds  of  the  Creole 
population.  On  what  pretense  does  such  an  allegation 
weigh  one  scruple  in  the  scale?  Such  an  argument 
strikes  at  the  root  of  all  colonization,  especially  Amer 
ican  colonization,  in  which  it  has  been  sought  to  amal 
gamate  races,  and  not  to  settle  any  special  district  by 
a  distinct  and  separate  people.  Such  an  argument 
would  justify  the  exclusion  of  Irish  laborers  from  the 
United  States,  for  their  immigration,  beyond  all  oth 
ers,  has  excited  "the  jealousy  of  natives,"  and  has  re 
duced  the  current  rate  of  wages  far  below  its  original 
standard.  This  is,  indeed,  a  new  and  obnoxious  form 


132      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

of  " protection"  and  "monopoly."  This  would  sus 
tain  the  monstrous  pretension  that  the  West  Indies 
are  the  sole  property  of  the  negro,  whose  equanimity 
must  be  disturbed  by  the  presence  of  no  other  people, 
and  that  colonies  capable  of  sustaining  twenty  mil 
lions  of  inhabitants  must  be  reserved  as  an  exclusive 
inheritance  for  less  than  a  million  descendants  of  the 
African  race.  It  is  reducing  the  argument  to  a  posi 
tive  absurdity.  How,  in  law  or  in  equity,  can  such 
a  policy  be  consistently  advocated  ?  But  I  deny  al 
together  that  there  has  been  any  exhibition  of  jeal 
ousy  between  the  Creoles  and  coolies  of  Trinidad.  I 
have  looked  in  vain  over  the  police  records  of  the 
island  to  discover  even  an  indication  of  such  a  feel 
ing.  I  have  made  it  the  subject  of  special  inquiry 
and  observation,  and  I  believe  that  neither  the  Creole 
nor  the  coolie  have  even  dreamed  of  a  national  hostil 
ity  toward  each  other.  The  fact  is  that  every  day 
the  supply  of  Creole  estate  labor  is  diminishing. 
"With  increased  intelligence,  the  Creole  discovers  that 
he  can  better  his  position,  if  not  his  fortune,  by  a 
more  independent  mode  of  life.  The  coolie  quietly 
takes  his  place;  and  the  common  expectation  that, 
within  a  few  years,  the  East  Indian  coolies  will  have 
altogether  supplanted  the  "West  Indian  Creoles  in  the 
field,  and  have  become  the  legitimate  laboring  popu 
lation  of  Trinidad,  is  a  wish  most  likely  to  be  grati 
fied,  as  it  is  a  consummation  most  earnestly  to  be  de 
sired. 

But  the  objections  raised  against  coolie  immigra 
tion  are  not  yet  ended ;  for  it  is  not  only  stated  to  be 
an  injustice  to  the  Creole  and  the  coolie,  but  also  an 
injury  to  the  public,  and  even  to  the  planter  himself. 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  133 

The  public,  it  is  contended,  are  unjustly  taxed  to  sup 
port  a  system  from  which  they  derive  no  benefit. 
This  is  a  point,  it  strikes  me,  for  the  colony  alone  to 
determine ;  and  if  the  people  are  willing  to  bear  a 
very  small  proportion .  of  the  taxation  necessary  to 
maintain  an  immigration,  which,  though  it  be  to  the 
direct  advantage  of  the  planter,  must  ultimately  in 
crease  colonial  prosperity  and  develop  colonial  re 
sources,  the  interference  of  a  stranger  in  a  question  so 
obviously  local  is  uncalled  for  and  impertinent.  As 
to  the  imagined  injury  inflicted  on  the  planter — the 
expense  to  which  he  is  subjected,  and  the  debt  with 
which  the  introduction  of  foreign  labor  is  supposed  to 
overwhelm  him — these  are  issues  of  which  he  him 
self  is  the  best  judge.  The  large  amount  of  landed 
property  released  from  hypothecation  in  Trinidad 
during  the  last  five  years,  or  since  the  introduction 
of  coolie  labor  has  been  a  declared  success,  is  a  stub 
born  fact  very  hard  to  set  aside. 

I  wish  it  to  be  distinctly  understood  that  I  have 
been  speaking  only  of  Trinidad;  not  because  I  be 
lieve  these  remarks  inapplicable  to  many  of  the 
sparsely  populated  islands,  but  because  I  started  on 
the  principle  that  each  colony  should  be  separately 
examined,  its  condition  determined,  and  its  wants  as 
certained,  without  reference  to  other  colonies  within 
or  without  the  tropics.  I  can  not  imagine  any  one 
honestly  contending  that  the  principle  of  immigration 
and  colonization  is  contrary  to  good  morals  or  op 
posed  to  sound  political  economy.  Its  practice,  as  far 
as  Trinidad  is  concerned,  is  honorably  conducted  ;  nor 
can  it  be  otherwise,  while  the  same  watchful  supervi 
sion  is  preserved,  while  the  cupidity  of  private  spec- 


134      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ulation  is  rebuked,  and  the  promise  of  the  imperial 
government  stands  solemnly  pledged  to  every  indi 
vidual  immigrant.  I  can  not  believe  that  any  serious 
objection  would  be  raised  to  the  transportation  of  cool 
ies  from  Eastern  to  Western  India,  if  it  were  clearly 
understood  that  the  liberties  of  the  immigrants  were 
rigidly  guarded ;  and  if  I  am  correct  in  this  belief — 
if  English  philanthropists  are  only  excited  by  their 
own  fears  of  privileges  abused  or  rights  violated — let 
them  not  blindly  seek  to  abolish  what  is  giving  life 
to  a  desolated  empire,  but  rather  let  them  do  all  in 
their  power,  and  the  planters  themselves  will  lend  a 
willing  aid,  to  defend  the  coolie  from  every  possible 
aggression  and  to  shield  him  from  every  possible 
wrong.  There  are  minor  defects  in  the  system  which 
require  to  be  removed,  and  improvements  which  time 
and  experience  will  suggest.  But  I  am  satisfied  that 
that  system,  as  it  obtains  in  Trinidad,  is  wisely,  hu 
manely,  and  lawfully  conducted,  and  has  been  attend 
ed  so  far  with  not  a  single  political  or  social  evil.  It 
seems  to  have  been  decreed  in  the  providence  of  God 
that  these  fair  and  fertile  islands  should  ultimately  be 
come  an  asylum  for  millions  of  wanderers  from  hea 
thenesse  ;  and  the  scheme  of  immigration,  instead  of 
being  condemned,  should  be  upheld,  defended,  and 
perfected  by  philanthropists  above  all  others,  as  a  plan 
most  happily  devised  for  the  elevation  of  a  degraded 
people  and  for  the  restoration  to  prosperity  of  a  splen 
did  inheritance. 


THE   BKITISH   WEST   INDIES.  135 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

CULTIVATION  AND   COMMERCE   OF  TRINIDAD. 

Port-of-Spain,  Trinidad,  1859. 

I  GAVE  in  the  last  chapter  some  leading  features  of 
the  Trinidad  immigration  laws ;  sufficient,  I  hope,  to 
convey  a  correct  idea  of  the  system  under  which  the 
colony  is  being  supplied  with  labor,  and  of  the  man 
ner  in  which  that  system  has  been  reduced  to  practice. 
I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  and  no  one  in  this  island  will 
express  a  contrary  opinion,  that  immigration  has  been 
the  salvation  of  Trinidad.  It  is  a  blessing  both  to 
the  employer  and  the  employed.  This  is  no  vague 
assertion ;  it  can  be  demonstrated ;  first,  by  an  exhi 
bition  of  the  improved  and  improving  condition  of 
the  laborer;  secondly,  by  the  increased  demand  for 
his  services ;  thirdly,  by  the  extension  of  sugar  culti 
vation  on  the  island ;  and  fourthly,  by  the  augmenta 
tion  of  its  trade. 

I  have  already  spoken  of  the  improved  condition 
of  the  immigrant  laborer  after  an  industrial  residence 
in  Trinidad  of  three  or  five  years.  He  is,  indeed,  vast 
ly  improved,  morally,  materially,  physically,  socially. 
The  civilizing  influences  which  surround  him  make 
him  a  new  man.  The  climate  agrees  with  him,  and 
doing  much  less  work  than  an  Irish  laborer  performs 
in  America,  he  nevertheless  does  enough  to  develop 
his  form  and  figure.  He  learns  to  labor,  and  labors 


136      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

cheerfully,  industriously.  I  have  seen  him.  on  the  es 
tates  where,  in  the  midst  of  friends  and  relatives  from 
the  remote  east,  he  lives  in  comfort  and  contentment, 
with  every  want  supplied  and  every  right  jealously 
guarded.  Statistics  fully  prove  this  to  be  the  case. 
Taking  one  example  from  the  register  of  immigrants, 
I  find  that,  out  of  1799  coolies  distributed  in  1853, 
there  remained  in  1858,  under  indenture,  1184,  of 
whom  623  had  never  quitted  the  estates  to  which 
they  had  been  originally  assigned,  while  90  had  pur 
chased  their  remaining  periods  of  industrial  residence. 
Speaking  of  the  condition  of  the  coolies,  the  agent 
general  of  immigrants  in  his  report  of  the  1st  of  March, 
1859,  says:  "The  year  1853,  which  witnessed  the  ar 
rival  in  Trinidad  of  2040  coolies,  witnessed  also  the 
embarkation  for  Calcutta  of  return  coolies  with  their 
wives  and  children,  and  the  somewhat  agreeable  ad 
ditional  impedimenta  of  $45,000  of  declared  money 
in  silver,  besides  concealed  amounts.  These  return 
immigrants  were  superior  in  physical  development  to 
the  newly  arrived,  and  were,  with  the  exception  of  a 
few  taken  from  hospital,  in  vigorous  health.  Not 
only  was  their  appearance  above  par,  but  competent 
evidence  had  established  the  fact  that  they  had  here 
acquired  habits  of  continuous  industry  foreign  to  their 
previous  character;  results  which  may  be  attributed 
to  their  earning  more  money  than  when  in  India,  and 
perhaps  living  somewhat  better.  Nor  was  improve 
ment  confined  to  physical  endowment ;  external  com 
fort  has  reacted  on  their  feelings,  and  the  common  la 
borer  is  evidently  less  prone  to  falsehood  in  his  social 
relations  at  the  close  of  his  industrial  residence  than 
he  was  at  the  commencement.  It  is  not  unusual  to 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  137 

see  men  of  this  class  trusting  fully  to  their  employers, 
and  by  them  as  fully  trusted  in  return." 

2.  To  prove  the  increased  demand  for  coolie  labor 
ers  in  Trinidad  I  quote  from  the  same   authority. 
The  agent  says :  "In  1852  the  applications  made  to 
this  office  were  eighty  in  number  for  an  aggregate  of 
2000  coolies,  averaging  about  twenty -five  for  each  es 
tate  applying;  while  in  1857  the  corresponding  de 
mand  rose  to  7000,  from  179  properties,  averaging 
forty  to  each  applicant,  accompanied  by  a  voluntary 
offer  on  the  part  of  the  employers  to  double  the  fees 
payable  to  government  on  the  contract  for  each  immi 
grant  when   the   question   of  labor  was   at  stake." 
This  year  2500  coolies  have  already  arrived  out  of 
3000,  whose  importation  will  cost  the  colony  £33,000 
sterling,  besides  an  expenditure  of  £3300  for  the  re 
turn  of  300.     The  total  estimate  of  immigration  ex 
penses  for  the  current  year  exceeds  $270,000. 

3.  The  extension  of  sugar  cultivation  in  Trinidad 
is. a  matter  with  which  I  have  made  myself  personal 
ly  acquainted,  by  visiting  the  estates  and  learning  the 
fact  from  the  planters  themselves.     Within  the  last 
twenty  years  the  crop  has  more  than  doubled,  and  the 
land  in  cane  cultivation  has  increased  from  15,000  to 
29,000  acres.     Cacao  cultivation  has  also  increased, 
though  in  a  less  proportion,  because,  as  an  article  of 
export,  the  cacao  is  not  so  profitable  as  sugar.     The 
immense  increase  of  small  proprietors,  who  grow  their 
own  provisions  but  nothing  for  export,  must  also  be 
taken  into  account  as  an  important  item  in  the  gener 
al  wealth  and  prosperity  of  the  island.     But  the  ex 
tension  and  improvement  in  the  cultivation  of  the 
cane  can  not  fail  to  attract  attention.     The  substitu- 


138      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

tion  of  steam  for  cattle  and  water-power  is  now  al 
most  universal.  Several  miles  of  a  tramway  to  run 
through  the  great  sugar  district  of  Naparima  are  al 
ready  completed  and  in  operation. 

On  the  subject  of  extended  cultivation  the  report 
from  which  I  have  already  quoted  says:  "It  would 
be  no  difficult  task  to  enumerate  estates  which  have 
more  than  doubled  their  produce  since  1846 ;  others 
long  abandoned,  or  nearly  so,  have  risen  from  their 
ruins,  and  a  few  of  late  years  have  been  established 
on  newly-cleared  forest  land.  It  may  not  be  that,  in 
most  of  these  instances,  the  planters  have  heavy  bal 
ances  in  their  favor  at  the  local  bank ;  but  mortgages 
of  ancient  date  and  almost  hopeless  amount  have 
been  settled ;  the  laborers  earn  a  higher  aggregate  of 
wages,  their  houses  are  comfortable,  the  manufactur 
ing  machinery,  whether  fixed  or  movable,  is  more 
powerful,  and  the  planter  himself  has  fairly  contrib 
uted,  or  rather  created  that  increased  commerce  which 
has  enabled  the  colony  to  provide  ample  means  for 
the  introduction  of  labor  from  the  most  distant  shores." 
But,  perhaps,  the  best  illustration  of  the  extension  of 
sugar  cultivation  in  Trinidad  is  to  be  found  in 

4.  The  increase  of  its  trade.  Statistics  show  con 
clusively  that  that  increase  is  principally,  if  not  whol 
ly,  due  to  the  importation  of  foreign  labor,  for  it  is 
only  since  the  importation  was  commenced  in  earnest 
that  the  improvement  is  to  be  noticed.  In  1854  Trin 
idad  exported  27,987  hogsheads  of  sugar;  in  1855, 
31,693  hogsheads;  in  1856,  34,411  hogsheads;  in 
1857,  35,523  hogsheads;  and  in  1858,  37,000  hogs 
heads;  showing  a  gradual  increase  during  the  past 
five  years,  and  an  average  exportation  of  33,000  hogs- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  139 

heads.  Before  the  introduction  of  foreign  labor  the 
exports  of  sugar  were  as  follows:  in  1842,  20,506  hogs 
heads;  in  1843,24,088  hogsheads;  in  1844,21,800 
hogsheads;  and  in  1845,  25,399,  or  an  average  of 
22,000  hogsheads.  The  highest  average  exportation 
before  emancipation  during  the  same  number  of  years 
was  25,000  hogsheads  of  very  inferior  weight,  not 
equal  to  20,000  hogsheads  of  the  present  day.  Thus 
it  appears  that  the  export  of  sugar  in  1844,  with  a 
very  scanty  supply  of  labor,  was  equal  to  the  export 
under  slavery ;  while  this  year,  with  coolie  labor,  the 
export  will  reach  nearly  40,000  hogsheads,  and  will 
continue  to  increase  every  year  hereafter,  if  immigra 
tion  be  kept  up,  until  Trinidad  has  reached  the  point 
of  cultivation  that  Barbados  long  ago  attained.  In 
the  export  of  molasses  the  same  proportionate  increase 
is  to  be  observed.  It  is  generally  assumed  that  the 
sugar-crop  this  year  will  reach  40,000  hogsheads  of 
an  average  of  17  cwt.  each.  The  whole  number  of 
laborers  employed  to  produce  the  crop  of  1859  is  only 
17,000;  and  what,  we  may  ask,  can  not  be  done  after 
the  resources  of  the  island  have  been  developed — after 
cultivation  has  extended  inland,  and  Trinidad  shall 
have  obtained  all  the  labor  that  she  requires  ? 

The  increase  in  the  exportation  of  cacao  has  been 
also  very  great.  Though  these  plantations  are  not 
worked  by  coolies,  yet  the  introduction  of  foreign  la 
bor  has  so  far  relieved  the  pressure  in  the  market  that 
the  cacao  planter  now  gets  all  the  assistance  he  re 
quires.  Last  year  5,200,000  Ibs.  of  cacao  were  ex 
ported,  against  3,200,000  Ibs.,  the  highest  figure  ever 
attained  previous  to  emancipation. . 

I  think  that,  judged  by  any  of  its  legitimate  results, 


140     THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR,  ETC. 

the  introduction  of  coolie  labor  in  Trinidad  will  be 
found  a  mutual  benefit  to  employer  and  employed. 
These  results  have  followed  the  transportation  of  cool 
ies  to  the  Mauritius  and  to  British  Guiana,  and  must 
follow  their  transportation  to  Jamaica,  if  it  be  con 
ducted  under  a  well-regulated  system,  and  on  a  suffi 
ciently  extended  scale. 


THE  LEEWARD  ISLANDS, 

CHAPTER  XV. 

PROSPERITY  OF  ANTIGUA. 

St.  John,  Antigua,  1860. 

ANTIGUA  has  been,  and  still  is,  in  some  respects, 
one  of  the  favored  islands  of  the  British  West  India 
group.  Though  small  in  size,  she  has  often  taken  a 
lead  in  questions  of  political  and  social  reform  that 
larger,  more  populous,  and  more  wealthy  islands  have 
found  it  advantageous  to  follow.  Antigua  hastened, 
in  advance  of  all  other  colonies,  to  emancipate  her 
slaves.  She  refused  to  believe  in  the  virtues  of  an 
apprenticeship,  or  in  the  doctrine  that  her  bondsmen 
needed  a  purgatory  to  prepare  them  for  freedom.  If 
they  were  to  be  liberated,  why  not  at  once,  and  escape 
the  vexation,  the  heart-burnings,  and  the  suspense  of 
a  wretched  ordeal?  This  was  her  argument,  and  in 
1834  Antigua  became  a  perfectly  free  colony.  Her 
rulers  were  wise  in  their  generation.  They  foresaw 
that,  with  the  substitution  of  free  labor  for  slave  labor, 
much  had  to  be  learnt  and  much  to  be  unlearnt ;  that 
the  success  of  the  new  system  could  only  be  determ 
ined  by  time  and  experience ;  and  that  an  early 
start  in  the  race  was  a  point  to  be  gained — not  to  be 
neglected.  And  so  it  undoubtedly  was.  Antigua 
has  never  had  any  cause  to  regret  the  independent 


142      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

course  that  she  then  thought  proper  to  pursue.  In 
spite  of  an  insignificant  area,  a  soil  by  no  means  su 
perlatively  rich,  and  a  climate  too  liable  to  drought  to 
make  the  cultivation  of  sugar  a  business  of  extrava 
gant  profit,  Antigua  has  managed  to  retain  a  prom 
inent  position  among  West  Indian  colonies.  She  suf 
fered  severely  from  an  earthquake  in  1843,  but  that 
calamity,  terrible  as  it  was,  neither  checked  her  in 
dustry  nor  affected  her  permanent  prosperity. 

There  is  no  island  in  the  West  Indies  more  bounti 
fully  supplied  with  safe  harbors  than  Antigua.  Those 
most  generally  in  use  are  Falmouth,  English  Harbor 
(where  the  mail  steamers  stop,  and  men-of-war  find 
shelter  during  the  hurricane  months),  Parham,  on  the 
north  coast,  and  the  principal  seaport  of  St.  John. 
The  capital,  called  also  St.  John,  is  the  best-looking 
and  best-regulated  city  of  its  size  in  the  British  West 
Indies.  Its  board  of  health  is  always  actively  at 
work.  The  streets  are  clean  and  macadimized;  the 
houses  are  neat,  well  built,  and  of  a  more  modern  style 
than  the  generality  of  West  Indian  domiciles ;  and  it 
is  only  in  suburban  outskirts — the  "  St.  Giles"  of  the 
minute  metropolis — that  a  ragged  architecture  offends 
the  eye.  From  the  midst  of  the  city,  its  cathedral, 
built  since  the  earthquake  at  a  cost  of  $200,000,  rises 
quite  grandly.  The  Moravian  and  Wesleyan  chapels, 
the  city  hall,  the  poor-house,  the  hospital,  and  the 
jail,  all  commodious  and  even  .elegant  structures,  tes 
tify  in  favor  of  Antiguan  prosperity.  And  it  is  a 
well-earned  prosperity.  The  whole  island  is  only  55 
miles  in  circumference,  and  its  revenue,  about  £35,000 
sterling,  is  derived  from  a  population  that  scarcely 
exceeds  that  figure.  Of  this  revenue  some  £10,000 


THE   BRITISH   WEST   INDIES.  143 

are  directly  appropriated  to  religious,  educational,  and 
charitable  purposes.  Among  them  the  schools  re 
ceive,  for  the  current  year,  £1000;  the  established 
church,  £860 ;  the  poor-house,  £2340 ;  the  lunatic 
asylum,  £2000 ;  the  board  of  health,  £1700 ;  the  hos 
pital,  £1350;  and  the  public  library,  £120.  The 
island  government  has  kept  up  a  strong  militia  force 
ever  since  the  regular  troops  were  withdrawn,  eight 
years  ago.  It  also  supports  a  fire  brigade,  the  only 
institution  of  the  kind,  I  believe,  in  the  British  West 
Indies.  In  so  small  a  community  it  would,  of  course, 
be  unreasonable  to  look  for  any  extensive  trade ;  but 
St.  John  is  sufficiently  busy  to  satisfy  any  stranger 
that  Antigua  has  no  place  among  those  ruined  West 
India  colonies  which  exist  in  people's  imaginations. 

The  island  of  Antigua  embraces  some  70,000  super 
ficial  acres,  of  which  about  58,000  are  owned  by  large 
proprietors.  Sugar,  excepting  a  small  quantity  of  ar 
row-root  grown  by  settlers,  is  the  only  article  of  export, 
and  the  estates  average  in  size  320  acres.  Yery  few 
exceed  a  thousand  acres.  In  a  geological  or  agricul 
tural  point  of  view,  the  northern  and  southern  divis 
ions  of  Antigua  offer  a  striking  contrast.  The  former, 
comprising  the  parishes  of  St.  John,  St.  George,  and 
St.  Peter,  is  a  low,  level  country,  admirably  adapted 
to  the  cultivation  of  the  cane ;  and,  excepting  the 
towns,  villages,  and  government  lands,  the  entire  sec 
tion  is  in  the  hands  of  large  proprietors.  The  southern 
division,  comprising  the  parishes  of  St.  Mary,  St.  Paul, 
and  St.  Philip,  is  mountainous.  Sugar  plantations 
cover  three  fourths  of  this  section,  and  the  remaining 
fourth,  about  9000  acres,  is  checkered  with  negro  set 
tlements.  The  hills  which  trend  along  the  southern 


144      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOK  IN 

coast  have  seduced  many  laborers  from  the  estates, 
and  are  in  other  respects  a  barrier  to  the  extension 
of  cane  cultivation  that  in  Barbados  does  not  exist ; 
but  even  the  level  lands  of  Antigua  have  not  that 
garden-like  appearance  which  makes  Barbados  a  very 
Eden  among  "West  India  islands.  Not  that  so  many 
acres  of  cane  in  the  one  yield  less  than  an  equal 
number  of  acres  in  the  other ;  I  have  seen  cane-pieces 
in  Antigua  yielding  three  hogsheads  to  the  acre  ;  but 
the  cultivation  of  the  chief  staple  is  less  general,  and 
lacks  that  superb  finish  which  is  characteristic  of  Bar 
bados,  and  is  an  undoubted  evidence  of  the  super 
abundance  of  Creole  labor  that  she  alone,  of  all  the 
British  Antilles,  has  been  able  to  command. 

Judged  by  a  commercial  or  a  moral  standard,  Anti 
gua  as  a  free  colony  is  considerably  in  advance  of 
Antigua  as  a  slave  colony.  This  island,  since  aboli 
tion,  has  yielded  a  single  crop  of  20,000  hogsheads, 
the  largest  on  record,  and  one  which,  under  the  most 
favorable  circumstances,  it  would  be  difficult  to  sur 
pass.  Antigua,  however,  suffers  so  greatly  arid  so  fre 
quently  from  want  of  rain  that  her  crop  varies  more 
than  that  of  any  other  island.  It  has  fallen,  from  this 
cause  alone,  to  8000,  7000,  and  even  5000  hogsheads ; 
and  it  is,  therefore,  necessary  to  take  an  average,  in 
order  to  estimate  correctly  the  value  of  Antiguan 
industry  and  productiveness.  For  ten  years  preced 
ing  emancipation,  the  period  of  the  island's  greatest 
prosperity  under  slavery,  its  average  annual  exporta 
tion  was  12,500  hogsheads,  with  a  field  force  of  18,320 
laborers,  one  third  of  whom  must  be  held  to  have 
been  non-effective.  From  1840  to  1850  the  annual 
average  was  13,000  hhds.,  and  from  1850  to  1860  it 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  145 

rises  to  13,500  hhds.  of  a  decidedly  superior  weight, 
with  a  field  force  of  6000  laborers.  While  it  thus  ap 
pears  that  the  exportation  of  the  principal  staple  is 
considerably  larger  now  than  it  was  under  a  system 
of  forced  labor — an  increase  that  establishes  the  more 
telling  industry  of  the  people — there  is  other  evidence 
pointing  directly  to  the  same  conclusion.  In  this,  as 
in  more  important  colonies,  many  of  the  peasantry 
have  left  the  estates,  and  have  become  independent 
proprietors  of  small  allotments.  They  grow  arrow 
root  for  exportation,  and  such  provisions  as  the  limit 
ed  capacity  of  the  soil  will  allow  for  domestic  use. 
This,  then,  must  be  taken  into  account  when  a  com 
parison  is  instituted  between  the  productiveness  of 
the  slave  and  the  free  population  of  Antigua.  The 
improved  condition  of  the  peasantry  is  never  doubted 
or  questioned  in  the  island  itself,  and  it  is  well  shown 
by  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  imports  during  late 
years,  as  compared  with  their  nature  and  extent  be 
fore  the  period  of  emancipation. 

From  1822  to  1832  the  average  annual  value  of 
goods  imported  by  Antigua  was  £130,000  sterling, 
of  which  about  £50,000  value  came  from  the  United 
Kingdom  and  £40,000  from  the  United  States.  In 
1858  the  island  imported  to  the  value  of  £266,364 
sterling,  of  which  £114,631  value  came  from  the 
United  Kingdom  and  £106,586  from  the  United 
States.  The  American  imports  were  principally  ar 
ticles  of  food  suited  to  the  wants  of  a  thriving  peas 
ant  population.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  this 
great  increase  of  imports  has  not  been  called  for  by 
an  increased  population,  for,  from  causes  which  I  shall 
hereafter  explain,  the  population  of  Antigua  is  not  so 

G 


146      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

numerous  now  as  it  was  twenty  years  ago ;  but  the 
increase  is  simply  to  be  attributed  to  the  improved 
condition  and  ampler  means  of  the  peasantry  devel 
oped  by  the  dawn  of  freedom.  Thus,  too,  in  confirm 
ation  of  the  largely-extended  trade  of  Antigua,  it  ap 
pears  that,  during  ten  years  preceding  emancipation, 
the  average  number  of  vessels  that  entered  annually 
the  different  island-ports  was  340,  and  the  tonnage 
30,000  ;  while  in  1858  the  number  of  vessels  was  668, 
and  the  tonnage  42,534.  Of  these  vessels,  78,  of 
12,988  tons,  were  American ;  though  only  twenty,  five 
with  cargoes  and  fifteen  in  ballast,  cleared  for  ports 
in  the  United  States.  I  have  already  in  chapters  on 
Barbados  explained  the  cause  of  this  difference.  The 
proprietors  of  estates  under  mortgage  to  parties  in 
Great  Britain  are  not  free  to  sell  their  crops  to  whom 
soever  they  please.  They  are  obliged  to  dispose  of 
them  to  their  English  creditors,  and  hence  the  prin 
cipal  staple  seldom  finds  its  way  to  the  American 
market. 

The  cost  of  agricultural  labor  in  Antigua  is  less 
than  it  is  in  Barbados  or  Trinidad.  In  Antigua,  a 
field  laborer  scarcely  earns,  on  an  average,  20  cents 
per  diem ;  in  Barbados  he  earns  from  22  cents  to  25 
cents ;  and  in  Trinidad  he  earns  30  cents.  But  the 
production  of  sugar  in  Antigua,  in  proportion  to  its 
field  force,  does  not  compare  unfavorably  with  the 
production  in  Barbados  or  Trinidad,  keeping  the  same 
proportion  in  view,  and  making  due  allowance  for 
such  drawbacks  as  unfavorable  seasons,  from  which 
Antigua  more  frequently  suffers.  The  following  re 
turn  from  a  very  well  managed  estate  was  given  me 
by  a  prominent  planter,  and  is  an  interesting  illustra- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  147 

tion  of  the  low  rate  at  which,  canes  can  be  reaped  and 
sugar  manufactured  in  the  island  under  consideration : 

Cost  of  Mr. 's  Sugar  for  the  Week  ending  Feb.  25th,  1860. 

Cutting  315  loads  of  canes £2  12     6 

Carting  315  do 0  17     G 

Loading  315  do 089 

Grinding  315  do.,  viz.,  feeder,  two  cane-carriers,  one 

megass  do.,  one  fuller 2     8  11 

Mill-bed  cleaner,  at  Gd.  per  day 3     Q 

Boiling-house,  viz.,  one  at  Is.,  four  at  Wd. 160 

Copper-hole,  viz.,  one  at  Is.,  three  at  IQd 110 

Potting  11J  hhds.  sugar 059 

Premium  on  llf  hhds.,  at  Id 0     8     9 

Total £9  12     2 

Cost  per  hogshead,  £0  16s.  4d. 

Quantity  per  hogshead,  1350  gallons;  27  loads  of  canes. 

I  have  estimated  the  number  of  field  laborers  in 
Antigua  at  6000 — something  above  the  actual  return 
made  several  years  ago  in  answer  to  a  call  of  the  Leg 
islature.  On  a  given  day,  in  the  middle  of  the  crop 
season,  a  census  was  taken  of  laborers  at  work,  and 
the  number  was  found  to  be  as  stated  above.  They 
earn  on  an  average  twenty  cents  a  day  during  a  year 
of  250  working-days.  .  Estimating  the  crop  at  twenty- 
five  million  pounds,  each  laborer,  costing  fifty  dollars 
per  annum,  will  be  found  to  produce  4166  pounds, 
which  fixes  the  cost  of  agricultural  labor  in  Antigua 
at  1-J-  cents  for  each  pound  of  sugar  manufactured — 
a  figure,  it  is  needless  to  add,  greatly  below  the  cost 
of  labor  in  slave  countries. 

There  is  more  general  intelligence,  in  my  judgment, 
among  the  people  of  Antigua  than  among  the  Creoles 
of  any  West  India  colony  that  I  have  visited.  The 
efforts  to  educate  the  masses  have  been  more  perse 
vering  and  better  directed  in  this  than  in  other  isl- 


148      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ands.  The  Board  of  Education  is  composed  of  both 
laymen  and  clergymen,  and  a  dignitary  of  the  Estab 
lished  Church  acts  in  concord  and  in  concert  with  a 
Moravian  bishop.  At  the  time  of  emancipation  the 
number  of  scholars  attending  Sunday  and  other 
schools  was  1886.  In  1857  there  were  36  day-schools 
in  operation,  and  3520  scholars  receiving  instruction. 
In  1858  there  were  52  day-schools  and  4467  scholars. 
There  were  also  37  Sunday-schools  and  6418  scholars. 
The  population  of  Antigua,  between  the  ages  of  5  and 
15,  is  estimated  at  8000,  and  it  therefore  appears,  from 
the  figures  just  given,  that  a  large  proportion  of  the 
rising  generation  attend  the  various  schools  of  the  isl 
and.  As  to  the  present  generation,  though  far  less 
instructed  and  less  intelligent  than  their  children  will 
be,  much  can  be  said  in  their  favor  besides  the  fact, 
important  in  an  industrial  point  of  view,  that  they  are 
producing  more  now  than  they  produced  when  they 
were  slaves.  In  1846  there  were  in  the  island  67 
villages,  containing  3187  houses  and  9033  inhabitants. 
All  these  villages  were  founded  and  all  these  houses 
built  since  emancipation.  In  1858,  after  another  lapse 
of  twelve  years,  2000  additional  houses  had  been  built, 
and  the  number  of  village  residents  had  risen  to 
15,644.  At  the  same  period  there  were  only  299 
paupers  in  the  island  with  no  ostensible  means  of 
earning  a  livelihood.  It  farther  appears  that  educa 
tion  has  raised  the  standard  of  morality  in  Antigua. 
Marriages  are  much  more  frequent  than  they  used  to 
be,  and  concubinage  is  discountenanced.  The  num 
ber  of  illegitimate  births  averages  53  per  cent.  In 
some  other  islands  it  exceeds  100  per  cent. 

The  prison  statistics  of  1858  are  unusually  large, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  149 

owing  to  the  numerous  arrests  of  persons  implicated 
in  the  March  riots.  Those  riots  were  quite  unpre 
meditated,  and  neither  directly  nor  indirectly  were 
they  connected  with  any  political  movement  or  design. 
I  am  careful  in  making  the  assertion,  for  I  have  heard 
them  differently  construed.  A  report  gained  curren 
cy  at  the  time  that  the  disturbance  was  the  result  of  a 
deliberate  conspiracy  among  the  blacks  to  murder  the 
white  inhabitants  of  the  island;  but  the  foolish  ca 
nard,  if  ever  believed  in  Antigua  at  all,  was  fully  ex 
posed  during  the  searching  investigation  that  ensued. 
People,  it  is  true,  were  powerfully  excited  while  the 
commotion  lasted,  and  the  government,  with  a  some 
what  undignified  timidity,  applied  to  a  neighboring 
French  colony  for  military  aid.  For  these  reasons  it 
was  prudent,  perhaps,  to  keep  up  the  impression  that 
the  lives  of  her  majesty's  lieges  had  been  greatly  en 
dangered,  and  her  authority  in  Antigua  seriously 
threatened.  But  as  to  the  nature  of  the  riot  no  doubt 
whatever  is  now  entertained. 

It  originated  in  a  private  quarrel  between  two  rival 
stevedores — a  Creole  of  Antigua,  and  a  Creole  of  the 
island  of  Barbuda.  The  latter  being  victorious,  be 
came  an  object  of  popular  vengeance,  and  fled  for 
protection  to  the  police  station.  Thither  the  mob 
followed,  and,  attempting  to  storm  the  building,  they 
were  met  by  a  discharge  of  musketry.  Five  persons 
were  killed  and  sixteen  wounded.  This  rendered  the 
mob  more  infuriated  than  ever ;  and,  considering  that 
the  island  was  without  a  garrison  and  wholly  de 
fenseless,  law-abiding  citizens  were  naturally  alarmed. 
The  rioters  marched  about  the  streets  destroying  the 
houses  of  the  policemen  who  had  fired  on  them. 


150      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

They  did  not  attempt  to  injure  the  property  of  pri 
vate  citizens;  but  having  completed  their  work  of 
special  demolition  they  turned  again  to  the  station, 
and  made  another  attempt  to  capture  it.  The  gov 
ernor  was  now  on  the  ground.  He  had  ridden  among 
the  mob  exhorting  and  remonstrating,  but  their  pas 
sions  were  thoroughly  roused,  and  they  refused  to 
listen  to  his  counsel.  It  was  not  until  they  had  re 
newed  their  assault  on  the  station,  and  had  almost 
gained  the  arsenal,  that  the  order  was  given  to  fire. 
Three  rounds  effectually  dispersed  the  mob  and  quell 
ed  the  riot,  though  it  was  thought  advisable  to  place 
the  island  for  a  time  under  martial  law.  Since  then  a 
permanent  militia  force  has  been  kept  up.  Through 
out  these  disturbances,  which  lasted  several  days,  the 
hostility  of  the  rioters  was  never  directed  against  the 
whites.  They  sought  vengeance  only  on  the  police, 
themselves  black  and  colored,  and  the  outbreak,  wholly 
unpremeditated,  never  extended  beyond  the  town  in 
which  it  originated. 

The  progress  made  by  the  people  of  Antigua  since 
emancipation  would  certainly  justify  an  extension  of 
their  very  limited  franchise.  Members  of  Assembly 
must  have  an  income  of  at  least  £66  13s.  4d.  from  real 
property,  or  of  £200  from  any  occupation  or  business. 
To  vote,  a  resident  of  Antigua  must  be  a  proprietor 
of  ten  acres  in  fee  simple ;  of  five  acres,  with  build 
ings  equal  in  value  to  £111 ;  or  of  one  acre,  with 
buildings  of  the  value  of  £222.  The  occupant  of  a 
tenancy  renting  for  £88  17s.  lOd.  is  also  qualified.  A 
town  voter  must  own  property  of  the  value  of  £13  6s. 
8d.,  or  pay  rent  to  the  amount  of  £26  13s.  4c?.  It  is 
proper  to  add,  in  explanation  of  their  fractional  char- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  151 

acter,  that  the  figures  are  here  converted  into  sterling 
money  from  the  local  currency  specified  in  the  law. 
These  high  qualifications  exclude  the  middle  classes 
from  the  polls.  The  Legislature  is  composed  entirely 
of  planters,  or  of  those  whom  the  planters  choose  to  put 
there.  In  some  districts  of  Antigua  the  influence  of 
one  large  proprietor  is  sufficient  to  elect  two  members 
of  Assembly.  The  application  of  the  vast  machinery 
of  the  British  Constitution,  and  its  inseparable  Church 
Establishment,  to  each  of  the  lesser  West  India  colo 
nies,  is  susceptible  of  the  reductio  ad  dbsurdum.  The 
machinery  is  so  imposing,  and  occupies  so  much  space, 
that  popular  liberty  in  a  small  community  is  squeezed 
into  the  narrowest  possible  compass. 


152  THE  ORDEAL  OF  FliEE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

WANT  OF  LABOR  IN  ANTIGUA. 

St.  John,  Antigua,  1860. 

SMALL  as  Antigua  is,  there  are  parts  of  the  island 
where  labor  is  abundant  and  other  parts  where  labor 
is  scarce.  The  planters  are  seeking  to  introduce  cool 
ies.  They  are  in  need,  they  say,  of  2000  laborers ; 
and  it  is  to  be  presumed  that  they  understand  their 
own  wants.  At  the  same  time  it  is  very  certain  that 
Antigua,  with  a  population  of  318  to  the  square  mile, 
and  with  six  sevenths  of  her  superficial  area  preoccu 
pied  by  large  proprietors,  is  not  in  the  condition  of 
Jamaica  or  Trinidad,  with  their  immense  tracts  of  fer 
tile  soil  thirsting  for  settlement  and  cultivation.  The 
planters  of  Antigua  have  never  complained  of  eman 
cipation.  They  avow,  what  is  unquestionably  the 
truth,  that  by  the  introduction  of  a  cheaper  system 
of  labor  the  island  was  saved  in  1834  from  impend 
ing  ruin.  They  were  the  first  to  get  rid  of  slavery, 
and  they  have  no  reason  to  regret  that  they  did  so. 
In  their  present  demand  for  labor  they  use  fair  and 
liberal  language,  and  place  one  prominent  cause  of 
the  deficiency  of  Creole  labor  in  this  and  all  other 
British  islands  in  its  true  light.  "  "We  regard,"  say 
the  legislative  assembly  in  their  reply  to  the  last  ad 
dress  of  the  governor,  "we  regard  the  withdrawal  of 
a  large  number  of  the  laboring  population  from  the 
estates,  either  to  engage  in  the  cultivation  of  land  pur- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  153 

chased  by  themselves,  or  to  embark  successfully  in 
other  avocations  of  life,  as  the  natural  consequence  of 
an  improved  material  condition,  of  the  free  and  equal 
administration  of  the  law,  and  of  the  facilities  largely 
enjoyed  for  civil  and  religious  instruction ;  but  while 
we  acknowledge  and  sympathize  with  this  abstraction, 
it  is  clear  that  a  deficiency  has  been  thus  created  in 
the  supply  of  manual  labor  to  an  extent  which  is  not 
to  be  compensated  either  by  increased  skill,  by  im pie- 
mental  husbandry,  or  by  the  application  of  extended 
capital." 

While  the  statement  here  made  is  one  undoubted 
cause  of  the  deficiency  complained  of,  it  is  not  the  less 
true  that  the  abstraction  of  labor  from  estates  was 
abetted  by  planters  themselves  in  times — not  yet  pass 
ed  away — when  want  of  capital  was  more  pressing 
than  want  of  labor.  If  capital  was  abundant,  it  sure 
ly  lay  in  the  power  of  the  proprietary  body  or  of  indi 
vidual  planters  to  retain  their  land,  if  they  believed 
that  the  sale  or  lease  of  allotments  to  the  laborers 
would  inflict  a  serious  injury  on  the  planting  interest. 
Yet  they  did  sell,  and  still  continue  to  sell ;  and  the 
negroes  continue  to  buy,  though  land  is  scarce,  and 
averages  in  value  fifty  dollars  per  acre.  In  the  last 
government  report  bearing  on  this  subject  I  find  it 
stated  that  there  is  "  no  squatting  in  Antigua  of  any 
importance  in  its  effect  on  the  supply  of  labor.  The 
facility,"  continues  the  report,  "which  the  laboring 
population  possess  for  the  purchase  or  rent  of  small 
plots  of  ground  near  the  villages  built  since  emanci 
pation  in  various  parts  of  the  island,  removes  the 
temptation  that  might  otherwise  exist  to  appropriate 
portions  of  the  unclaimed  crown  lands." 
G2 


154      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  UST 

While  agricultural  labor  in  all  the  British  West 
Indies  is  the  great  desideratum,  and  the  cry  for  immi 
gration  is  echoed  and  re-echoed,  it  is  amazing  to  see 
how  the  labor  which  the  planter  has  within  his  reach 
is  wasted  and  frittered  away  ;  how  the  particular  pop 
ulation  upon  which  the  prosperity  of  the  colonies  so 
utterly  depends  is  neglected ;  how,  by  mismanagement 
and  unpardonable  blunders  of  policy,  the  life  of  a  field 
laborer  has  been  made  so  distasteful  to  the  peasant 
that  the  possession  of  half  an  acre,  or  the  most  meagre 
subsistence  and  independence,  seem  to  him,  in  com 
parison  with  estate  service,  the  very  acme  of  luxurious 
enjoyment.  Can  it  be  credited  that  solely  through 
want  of  proper  medical  care  the  agricultural  popula 
tion  of  Antigua  has  been  allowed,  for  twenty  years 
past,  to  decrease  at  the  rate  of  a  half  per  cent,  per  an 
num?  But  evidence  ef  this  criminal  neglect  is  on 
record.  The  island  is  remarkably  healthy ;  it  escaped 
the  general  visitation  of  cholera  in  1854 ;  and  yet  the 
mortality  is  greater  now  than  it  was  in  the  days  of 
slavery,  before  the  population  was  thoroughly  Creol- 
ized.  In  1800  the  taxed  negroes  of  Antigua  were  num 
bered  at  38,000 ;  in  1815  there  were  36,000  slaves ; 
in  1821,  when  the  last  census  before  emancipation 
was  taken,  there  were  1980  whites,  4066  free  colored, 
and  31,064  slaves  on  the  island;  in  1851  the  total 
population  was  37,163,  and  in  1856  it  was  only  35,408, 
of  whom  26,522  were  black,  6714  colored,  and  2172 
white.  It  is  thus  shown  that  the  blacks,  which  are 
the  agricultural  portion  of  the  population,  are  the  suf 
ferers — the  whites  and  colored  having  actually  in 
creased.  It  appears  from  the  latest  return  of  the  reg 
istrar  that  during  1858  thirty-two  per  cent,  of  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  155 

persons  who  died  were  children  under  the  age  of  one 
year — a  mortality  that  can  only  be  explained  by  the 
want  of  proper  medical  care.  The  acting  governor 
of  Antigua,  Mr.  Eyre,  a  gentleman  of  ability  and  well- 
deserved  popularity,  recently  brought  this  subject  to 
the  notice  of  the  Legislature.  He  says : 

"  The  returns  of  births  and  deaths  disclose  the  mel 
ancholy  fact  that,  in  Antigua,  the  deaths  are  nearly 
equal  to  the  births,  and  that  therefore,  although  no 
epidemic  or  other  unusual  grounds  for  mortality  exist, 
the  population  is  not  increasing  as  it  ought  to  do,  es 
pecially  in  a  country  where  the  climate  and  other 
conditions  propitious  to  life  are  so  favorable,  and 
where  wholesome  food  is  so  readily  procurable;  for 
there  is,  perhaps,  hardly  any  country  in  the  world 
where  the  laborer  can  obtain  all  that  is  necessary  to 
make  his  home  comfortable  at  a  less  cost  of  exertion 
than  he  can  in  most  of  the  West  India  islands.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  deaths  appears  to  occur  in  in 
fancy  or  early  childhood,  and  there  can  be  little  doubt 
but  that  they  are  for  the  most  part  the  result  of  neg 
lect  and  want  of  medical  attendance.  In  the  days  of 
slavery  hospitals  and  medical  attendance  for  all  were 
provided  by  the  estates ;  but  now  that  the  majority  of 
laborers  have  ceased  to  be  residents  on  properties, 
and  this  obligation  but  partially  exists,  the  greater 
number  of  them,  distributed  about  the  country  in 
populous  villages,  are  either  unwilling  or  unable  to 
obtain  the  necessary  medical  attendance  and  proper 
nursing  in  illness  for  themselves,  their  children,  or 
their  relatives.  It  is  worthy  the  best  attention  of  an 
enlightened  Legislature  to  provide  a  remedy  for  this 
state  of  things,  and  to  consider  whether  arrangements 


156      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

can  not  be  made  under  which  medical  supervision 
shall  again  be  extended  to  the  entire  population. 
The  value  of  such  supervision  is  evidenced  by  the 
fact  that  the  rate  of  mortality  is  less  among  the  resi 
dent  population  on  estates  than  it  is  in  the  villages 
where  the  laborers  reside  on  their  own  lands.  The 
great  saving  of  human  life,  and  the  large  accession  of 
labor  which  would  thereby  accrue  to  the  colony,  would 
both  justify  and  compensate  for  any  expenditure  of 
public  money  which  it  may  be  necessary  to  incur  in 
securing  objects  so  desirable  and  so  important." 

The  governor,  it  will  be  observed,  appears  to  doubt 
whether  the  mortality  among  the  laboring  population 
arises  from  their  unwillingness  or  their  inability  to 
procure  medical  assistance.  In  answer  to  this,  it  need 
only  be  pointed  out  that  the  eight  or  ten  practitioners 
of  Antigua  reside  in  town,  and  that  it  is  quite  beyond 
the  power  of  the  peasant  who  lives  five  or  ten  miles 
off  to  pay  for  medical  attendance  and  advice  out  of 
the  four  or  five  shillings  that  he  may  earn  during  the 
week.  It  would  seem  to  be  but  wise  and  prudent  for 
the  governing  classes  in  Antigua  to  provide  for  the 
safety  of  their  present  agricultural  population^nd  ar 
rest  its  decline  before  they  make  any  large  additions 
to  its  numbers. 

If  2000  laborers  are  wanted  for  Antigua,  and  I  do 
not  doubt  that  the  planter's  demand  is  made  in  per 
fectly  good  faith,  no  one  will  question  the  wisdom 
of  a  policy  that  seeks  to  obtain  them  from  the  ranks 
of  the  Creole  population  in  preference  to  all  other 
sources.  I  do  not  say  that  this  is  possible,  even  in 
Antigua,  but  I  do  say  that  the  trial  has  never  been 
fairly  made.  The  last  census  gives  the  number  of 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  157 

persons  engaged  in  agriculture  at  15,310,  and  those 
engaged  in  trade  and  miscellaneous  occupations  at 
19,758.  It  is  important  to  know  what  superior  in 
ducements  have  been  held  out  to  this  population  (suf 
ficiently  numerous,  in  all  conscience,  for  the  cultiva 
tion  of  an  island  containing  only  one  hundred  and 
eight  square  miles)  to  work  on  the  estates  instead  of 
on  their  own  emplacements,  or  at  the  trade  or  occu 
pation  they  have  selected.  These  inducements  are, 

1.  The  return  to  a  condition  of  quasi  serfdom ;  and, 

2.  "Wages  that  do  not  reach  the  average  of  a  shilling 
a  day,  considerably  below  the  market  rate  of  wages  in 
any  other  avocation.     The  West  India  planter  refuses 
to  believe  that  his  position  is  precisely  that  of  other 
employers.     In  Antigua  he  offers  from  Sd.  to  Is.  per 
day  to  a  laborer;  and  because  the  man  refuses  the 
offer,  being  able  to  do  better,  the  planter  considers 
himself  aggrieved,  and  asks  the  government  to  pro 
cure  him  labor  from  abroad.     JSTo  one  interferes  with 
the  liberty  of  the  individual  planter  to  get  labor 
wherever  he  can ;  but  when  the  whole  proprietary 
interest  united  demands  aid  from  government  to  im 
port  large  numbers  of  laborers  into  a  thickly-settled 
colony,  the  question  assumes  a  very  different  aspect. 
The  Creole  laborers,  if  they  have  any  rights  at  all, 
have  a  right  to  be  heard  upon  the  subject.     The 
question,  furthermore,  is  one  of  economy  for  a  Legis 
lature  to  adjudicate  upon  and  statesmen  to  consider, 
whether  it  is  not  cheaper  and  better  to  accept  the 
terms  of  the  Creole,  supposing   him  to  offer  any 
terms  within  the  bounds  of  reason,  than  to  suffer  the 
heavy  outlay  which  a  forced  system  of  immigration 
imperatively  requires.     In  islands  like  Jamaica  and 


158      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

Trinidad,  where  there  is  an  absolute  deficiency  of  pop 
ulation,  the  planter  has  no  choice;  but,  in  Antigua, 
much  more  might  have  been  done  than  has  been  done 
to  induce  the  peasantry  to  work  for  the  estates. 

The  tenure  under  which  estate  laborers  hold  their 
cottages  and  lands  is  alone  sufficient  to  drive  from, 
cane  cultivation  any  people  who  have  the  faintest  as 
pirations  after  independence.  In  Antigua  there  is  a 
contract  law  which  exacts  a  month's  notice  on  either 
side,  before  the  planter  can  discharge  his  laborer  or 
the  laborer  can  quit  the  service  of  the  planter.  The 
peasant  is  not  now,  as  he  was  formerly,  at  the  mercy 
of  an  irresponsible  overseer,  nor  lives  any  longer  in 
dread  of  being  summarily  ejected  from  his  tenement 
and  left  to  starve  upon  the  highway.  The  history  of 
plantation  management  in  the  West  Indies  teems  with 
such  ejectments.  The  contract  law  of  Antigua,  as 
many  will  testify,  has  been  attended  with  beneficial 
results ;  but  mixing  up,  as  it  does,  the  rights  and  ob 
ligations  of  a  tenant  with  the  rights  and  obligations 
of  a  laborer  hired  to  service,  it  is  at  best  but  a  half 
measure,  and  of  necessity  gives  rise  to  complaint,  ill- 
will,  and  misunderstanding.  If  I  were  asked  to  point 
out  the  chief  obstruction  to  a  satisfactory  solution  of 
the  West  India  labor  question,  I  should  answer  with 
out  hesitation,  want  of  confidence  between  employer 
and  employed.  The  planters  cling  unwittingly  to  the 
shreds  of  the  system  of  coercion  in  which  they  were 
once  taught  to  believe.  They  do  not  yet  recognize  the 
overwhelming  advantages  of  perfectly  free  labor,  for 
they  have  checked  its  development  by  imposing  upon 
it  some  of  the  heaviest  burdens  of  feudalism  and  of 
serfdom.  It  is  only  necessary  to  compare  the  condi- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  159 

tion  of  estate  laborers  with  that  of  their  more  inde 
pendent  brethren,  to  be  perfectly  convinced  that  be 
tween  the  prosperity,  the  morality,  and  the  industry 
of  the  one  and  those  of  the  other,  there  is  a  broad  gulf 
of  separation.  I  can  not  help  believing  that  it  is  in 
the  power  and  in  the  interest  of  the  planters  to  change 
all  this.  There  are  many,  undoubtedly,  who  strive  to 
ameliorate  the  condition  of  the  laboring  classes ;  but 
it  is  as  legislators,  and  not  merely  as  private  landed 
proprietors,  that  they  are  called  upon  to  act.  What 
English  or  American  laborer  would  accept  the  lease 
of  a  cottage  with  the  understanding  that  he  and  his 
family,  his  wife  and  his  children,  should  work  only 
for  a  certain  estate,  and  be  at  all  times  obedient  serv 
ants  at  the  call  of  their  landlord  ?  Surely  the  most 
desperate  poverty  alone  would  drive  a  free-born  citi 
zen  to  accept  such  a  bondage.  And  here  in  the  "West 
Indies  where  poverty  is  unknown,  and  a  man  can  live 
comfortably  with  the  smallest  effort,  it  is  lunacy  to 
expect  that  a  tenure  which  would  not  last  a  week  in 
the  densely -populated  districts  of  England  or  Ireland, 
can  by  any  possibility  succeed.  The  planters  have 
counted  largely  upon  the  peculiar  attachment  of  the 
negro  to  the  spot  upon  which  he  was  born.  He  is 
not  naturally  self-reliant.  The  realities  of  his  position 
must  be  harsh,  and  the  prospects  of  a  change  bright 
indeed,  to  induce  him  to  leave  the  familiar  scenes  of 
his  youth  and  the  friends  among  whom  he  has  al 
ways  lived.  But  even  the  negro  world  moves  on. 
As  the  West  Indian  Creole  becomes  enlightened,  his 
home  prejudices  become  weak,  and  it  is  utterly  un 
reasonable  to  expect  that  he  will  remain  an  estate  la 
borer  while  the  penalty  is  a  forfeiture  of  independ- 


160      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

ence,  and  the  reward  a  rate  of  wages  that  might  be 
doubled  in  any  other  employment. 

No  unprejudiced  West  Indian  need  be  told  that 
the  abstraction  of  labor  from  the  estates,  the  burden 
of  such  bitter  complaint,  is  a  progressive,  not  a  retro 
grade  movement,  to  the  incalculable  advantage  of  the 
laborer — to  his  credit,  not  to  his  shame.  Writers  on 
the  West  Indies  in  books  and  newspapers,  who  de 
scribe  what  they  never  saw  and  draw  conclusions 
from  imagined  data,  have  sometimes  expressed  a  con 
trary  opinion.  We  can  not  complain  of  the  planters 
on  the  one  hand,  for  advocating  a  Voutrance  their 
special  interest,  nor  of  a  British  anti-slavery  society 
on  the  other,  for  straining  out  gnats  in  their  defense 
of  a  class  that  have  no  voice  of  their  own  in  the  coun 
sels  of  the  empire.  They  are  entitled  to  the  privi 
leges  of  advocates  at  the  bar  of  public  opinion.  But 
when  we  find  ignorance  and  error  flowing  from  our 
most  reliable  sources  of  information,  when  partisan  ar 
gument  is  used  by  the  judge  instead  of  dispassionate 
reasoning,  and  fiction  instead  of  fact  is  given  by  the 
witness,  these  we  regard  as  high  crimes  and  misde 
meanors,  especially  when  they  are  converted  into 
weapons  of  attack,  and  leveled  against  the  independ 
ence  of  a  helpless  people — against  their  liberty  pur 
chased  at  an  enormous  cost,  and  guaranteed  to  them 
forever  under  the  solemn  pledge  of  a  constitution. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  161 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

THE    MINOR    COLONIES. 

St.  John,  Antigua,  1860. 

BESIDES  Antigua,  there  are  under  the  dominion  of 
the  Leeward  government,  the  colonies  of  Dominica, 
Nevis,  Montserrat,  St.  Kitts,  and  the  British  Virgin 
Islands.  They  are  not  largely  productive,  and  are 
seldom  taken  into  account  when  the  argument  of  free 
labor  in  the  West  Indies  is  under  discussion.  Their 
trade  and  exports  are,  however,  considerable  in  the 
aggregate,  and  I  propose  to  give,  as  briefly  as  possible, 
such  statistical  information  upon  these  points  as  I  have 
been  able  to  procure. 

DOMINICA  is  a  mountainous  island,  nearly  three 
times  as  large  as  Antigua,  and  embraces  an  area  of 
186,436  acres.  Its  population,  prior  to  emancipation, 
was  18,650,  and  in  1844,  at  the  last  census,  was  22,220. 
The  whites,  in  proportion  to  the  black  and  colored  in 
habitants,  are  as  one  to  twenty-six.  Of  the  entire  pop 
ulation  11,589  are  employed  in  agriculture.  There 
are  2825  direct  taxpayers  in  the  island.  About  2600 
children,  on  an  average,  receive  instruction  in  the  dif 
ferent  schools.  In  the  year  1858  Dominica  exported 
6,262,841  Ibs.  of  sugar,  against  an  annual  average  ex 
port  of  6,000,000  Ibs.  before  emancipation.  Her  total 
imports  in  1858  were  valued  at  £84,906,  against  an 
average  of  £62,000  for  five  years  preceding  emanci- 


162       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

pation,  the  period  of  her  greatest  prosperity  under 
slavery.  In  1830,  224  vessels,  of  11,191  tons,  the 
largest  number  on  record,  entered  the  port  of  Koseau. 
In  1858,  320  vessels  entered,  of  8938  tons.  A  great 
majority  of  the  Dominican  coffee  properties  were  ruin 
ed  by  blight ;  and,  owing  to  this  misfortune,  the  ex 
ports  of  coffee  have  fallen  from  2,000,000  Ibs.  to  a 
merely  nominal  figure.  The  cultivation  of  cocoa  has, 
to  some  extent,  taken  the  place  of  coffee,  and  125,000 
Ibs.  are  now  annually  exported,  instead  of  9000  Ibs., 
the  maximum  before  emancipation.  Lime-juice  is  an 
important  article  of  Dominican  commerce,  and  large 
quantities  of  fruit,  vegetables,  and  wood  for  fuel,  are 
exported  to  neighboring  islands. 

NEVIS  is  a  single  mountain,  with  an  area  of  some 
30,000  acres.  The  population  in  1830  was  9250,  and 
is  now  9571.  Of  this  number  2500  persons  live  in 
villages  built  since  emancipation,  and  1200  pay  direct 
taxes.  More  than  two  thirds  of  the  population  be 
tween  the  ages  of  five  and  fifteen  are  receiving  in 
struction.  In  1858  Nevis  exported  4,400,000  Ibs.  of 
sugar,  against  an  annual  average  of  5,000,000  Ibs.  be 
fore  emancipation.  She  exports  also  arrow-root,  tam 
arinds,  vegetables,  and  fruits.  Her  imports  in  1858 
were  valued  at  £36,721,  against  an  annual  average 
value  of  £28,500  between  the  years  1820  and  1830. 

MONTSERRAT,  about  equal  in  superficial  area  to 
Nevis,  has  a  population  of  7033,  a  decrease  of  some 
300  on  the  population  of  1828.  Of  this  number,  1184 
heads  of  families  were,  at  the  last  return,  engaged  in 
agriculture.  In  1858  Montserrat  exported  1,308,720 
Ibs.  of  sugar,  against  an  annual  average  of  1,840,000 
Ibs.  prior  to  emancipation.  She  also  exported  846 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  163 

cords  of  firewood  and  119  barrels  of  tamarinds,  be 
sides  miscellaneous  minor  articles.  The  value  of  im 
ports  in  1858  was  £17,844,  and  between  this  figure 
and  the  average  value  of  imports  before  emancipation 
there  appears  to  be  no  marked  variance. 

ST.  KITTS,  or  St.  Christopher,  as  it  is  sometimes  call 
ed,  occupies  an  area  of  about  45,000  acres.  The  pop 
ulation,  according  to  the  census  of  1855,  was  20,741, 
and  seems  to  have  decreased  nearly  3000  since  1830. 
There  are  in  St.  Kitts  6656  persons  engaged  in  agri 
culture,  1074  artisans,  472  engaged  in  trade,  210  free 
holders,  220  persons  paying  direct  taxes,  2704  scholars 
receiving  instruction,  and  1587  people  living  in  vil 
lages  built  since  emancipation.  About  9000  acres  in 
St.  Kitts  are  in  cultivation.  In  1858  the  island  ex 
ported  9,883,309  Ibs.  of  sugar,  against  an  average  of 
12,000,000  Ibs.  before  emancipation.  Salt  has  become 
an  important  article  of  commerce  of  late  years,  and 
about  25,000  barrels  have  been  annually  exported. 
Potatoes  acdjjrrow-root  are  extensively  cultivated  in 
St.  Kitts.  The  total  value  of  exports  in  1858  was 
£137,531,  and  of  imports,  £109,005 ;  largely  exceed 
ing,  supposing  the  same  prices  to  rule,  the  value  of 
exports  and  imports  prior  to  emancipation.  This  is 
fully  shown  by  shipping  statistics.  For  the  ten  years 
preceding  abolition,  the  annual  average  number  of 
vessels  entering  St.  Kitts  was  376,  of  19,000  tons ; 
while  in  1858  over  550  vessels  entered,  weighing 
21.886  tons. 

The  British  VIRGIN  ISLANDS  and  their  capital,  Tor- 
tola,  are  also  in  the  Leeward  government.  Most  of 
them  are  rocky  islets  unsuited  to  cultivation.  Their 
population  is  estimated  at  5053  persons,  of  whom  2087 


164:      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FEEE  LABOR  IN 

are  engaged  in  agriculture,  and  the  very  large  number 
of  1361  pay  direct  taxes.  The  vessels  that  visit  the 
British  Virgin  Islands  are  of  inferior  tonnage,  and 
their  principal  trade  is  with  the  Danish  colony  of  St. 
Thomas.  The  islands  ^annually  export  stock,  sheep 
and  goats,  lime,  charcoal,  salt,  vegetables,  some  five  or 
six  thousand  pounds  of  cotton,  and  about  two  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  sugar.  No  reliable  statistics  of 
the  trade  of  these  islands  before  emancipation  can  be 
procured,  and  I  am  therefore  unable  to  institute  a 
comparison  between  the  production  of  the  inhabitants 
under  slavery  and  their  production  under  freedom. 

The  few  figures  that  I  have  here  given  prove  that 
the  Leeward  Islands,  commercially  and  industrially 
considered,  have  progressed ,  under  a  regime  of  free 
dom.  In  all  these  colonies  the  condition  of  the  free 
peasant  rises  infinitely  above  the  condition  of  the 
slave.  In  all  the  people  are  more  happy  and  con 
tented;  in  all  they  are  more  civilized;  in  all  there 
are  more  provisions  grown  for  home$  consumption 
than  were  ever  raised  in  the  most  flourishing  days  of 
slavery ;  in  all  the  imports  have  largely  increased ;  in 
all  a  very  important  trade  has  sprung  up  with  the 
United  States ;  for  emancipation  unshackled  Commerce 
when  it  broke  the  chain  that  bound  down  Labor  to  a 
single  interest.  From  all  there  is  an  exportation  of 
minor  articles  which  were  not  cultivated  twenty  years 
ago,  and  which,  in  estimating  the  industry  of  the  peo 
ple  under  a  free  system,  are  often  most  unjustly  over 
looked.  These  are  considerations  from  which  the 
planter  turns  with  contemptuous  indifference.  Sugar, 
and  sugar  alone,  is  his  drearn,  his  argument,  his  faith. 
Yet,  even  in  sugar,  the  exports  of  the  Leeward  colo- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  165 

nies  compare  favorably  with  their  exports  in  the  most 
prosperous  days  of  old,  as  the  following  table  amply 
demonstrates  : 

COMPARATIVE  TABLE  OF  SUGAR  EXPORTATION,  IN  POUNDS,  FROM  THE 

LEEWARD  ISLANDS. 

Islands.          Annual  average  from  1820  to  1832.      Exports  in  1858. 
Antigua  .................  20,580,000  ...............  26,174,000 

Dominica  ...............  6,000,000  ...............  6,263,000 

Nevis  .....................  5,000,000  ...............  4,400,000 

Montserrat  ..............  1,840,000  ...............  1,308,000 

St.Kitts  .................  12,000,000  ...............  10,000,000 

Total  ..................  45,420,000  ...............  48,145,000 

The  imports  of  the  same  islands  present  a  still  more 
striking  contrast: 

COMPARATIVE    TABLE    OF    IMPORTS    TO    THE    LEEWARD   ISLANDS    IN 
POUNDS    STERLING. 


i  Value  of  Imports  in  185S- 

Antigua  .................  £130,000  ..................  £266,364 

Dominica  ...............      62,000  ..................      84,906 

Nevis  .....................      28,000  ..................      36,721 

Montserrat  .............       18,000  ..................       17,844 

St.Kitts  .................      60,000  ..................     109,000 

Total  ..................  £298,000  ..................  £514,835 

Excess  of  sugar  exportation  with  free  labor..  ..2,  725,000  pounds. 
Excess  of  imports  with  free  labor  .................  £216,835  sterling. 

I  have  given  the  returns  of  1858  throughout,  as 
they  are  the  latest  and  most  complete  that  I  have 
been  able  to  obtain  ;  and  if  it  be  objected  that  the 
sugar  exportation  of  one  colony  was,  in  that  year, 
higher  than  the  average,  it  will  be  found  that  others 
are  lower  than  the  average.  The  table  at  any  rate  is 
a  fair  exhibition,  in  round  numbers,  of  the  sugar  pro 
duction  of  the  islands  at  the  present  time,  and  this  is 
the  point  I  seek  to  establish.  Sugar  is  the  only  staple 


166      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

in  which  it  is  even  pretended  that  any  important  de 
cline  has  taken  place  under  freedom ;  yet  the  fact  ap 
pears  that  the  Leeward  Islands,  with  an  aggregate 
population  of  94,000,  export  annually  48,000,000  Ibs. 
of  sugar — nearly  3,000,000  Ibs.  more  than  they  ex 
ported  before  emancipation,  when  all  the  energies  of 
the  colonies  were  concentrated  upon  this  single  culti 
vation.  It  appears  also  from  this  exhibit  that  about 
510  Ibs.  of  sugar  per  capita  are  produced  in  the  Lee 
ward  islands.  Now  Barbados,  whose  trade  has  doubled 
under  freedom,  and  whose  prosperity  and  industry  are 
universally  admitted,  produces  an  annual  average  of 
70,000,000  Ibs.  of  sugar  with  a  population  of  150,000, 
giving  only  466  Ibs.  to  each  inhabitant ;  and  the  in 
ference  is  inevitable  that  if,  according  to  the  planting 
argument,  Barbados  flourishes,  the  Leeward  colonies 
flourish  still  more.  But  the  argument  of  the  planter 
is  not  the  whole  argument.  His  undivided  attention 
is  turned  to  cane  cultivation;  it  is  his  special  busi 
ness,  his  sole  occupation ;  and  it  is  his  right  and  priv 
ilege  to  further  it  by  all  legitimate  means  in  his  pow 
er.  But  it  is  the  duty  of  the  legislator  and  the  states 
man  to  consider  other  interests  as  well  as  the  planting 
interest ;  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  permanent  and 
not  of  a  fictitious  prosperity ;  to  consult  the  happiness 
of  the  people,  and  to  rise  above  the  prejudices  that 
have  warped  the  judgment  and  misdirected  the  ener 
gies  of  the  proprietary  body.  When  the  industry  of 
the  inhabitants  of  any  of  these  islands  is  doubted  on 
the  ground  that  they  produce  less  sugar  now  than 
they  did  formerly,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  their 
production  of  other  articles,  whether  for  export  or 
home  consumption,  the  improvement  in  their  material 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  167 

condition,  their  very  independence  of  daily  labor  for 
hire,  enter  largely  into  the  merits  of  the  question. 
But  I  have  shown  that  even  the  sugar  exports  of  the 
Leeward  Islands  exceed,  at  the  present  time,  their  ex 
ports  during  the  most  prosperous  epoch  of  slavery. 
In  the  Windward  Islands,  Trinidad  and  Guiana,  a  sim 
ilar  increase  is  apparent.  Jamaica  alone,  of  all  the 
larger  colonies,  exhibits  a  marked  decline.  Instead 
of  being  regarded  as  the  exception  to  prevailing  West 
Indian  prosperity,  she,  as  the  most  important  British 
dependency  in  these  latitudes,  is  very  erroneously 
supposed  to  represent  a  general  ruin.  While  sugar 
cultivation  in  Jamaica  has  retrograded  under  a  free 
system,  in  other  colonies  it  has  advanced ;  and  this 
fact  of  itself  raises  the  presumption,  if  it  does  not  act 
ually  demonstrate,  that  causes  other  than  emancipation 
have  combined  to  blight  her  industry  and  destroy  her 
commerce. 


JAMAICA, 


CHAPTEE  XVIII. 

TIMES  PAST  AND  TIMES  PRESENT. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

As  briefly  as  possible,  for  the  theme  is  threadbare, 
I  must  endeavor  to  give  an  approximate  idea  of  the 
decline  of  Jamaica  ere  I  attempt  to  explain  the  causes 
of  that  decline,  or  point  out  the  political  and  social 
abuses  and  anomalies  for  which,  it  seems  to  me,  a 
remedy  must  be  found  before  the  island  can  be  re 
stored  to  its  ancient  prosperity.  I  do  not  think  it 
can  be>  disputed,  if  history  and  statistics  are  to  be  be 
lieved,  that,  since  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade  fifty- 
two  years  ago,  Jamaica  has  never  for  a  moment  paused 
in  her  downward  career.  I  do  not  think  it  can  be 
disputed,  if  actual  observation  is  to  be  relied  upon, 
that  she  has  not  even  yet  reached  the  lowest  point  of 
possible  depression.  Lower  still  she  can  sink — lower 
still  she  must  sink,  if  her  people  are  not  imbued  with 
a  more  pregnant  patriotism,  if  the  governing  classes 
are  not  stimulated  to  more  energetic  action,  and  are 
not  guided  by  more  unselfish  counsels. 

I  know  of  no  country  in  the  world  where  prosperi 
ty,  wealth,  and  a  commanding  position  have  been  so 
strangely  subverted  and  destroyed,  as  they  have  been 
in  Jamaica,  within  the  brief  space  of  sixty  years.  I 

H 


170      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

know  of  no  country  in  the  world  where  so  little 
trouble  has  been  taken  to  investigate  the  causes  of 
this  decline,  or  to  remedy  the  evils  that  have  depress 
ed  the  colony.  The  partisans  of  slavery,  it  is  true — 
the  sufferers  who  have  commanded  the  ear  of  the 
world,  and  have  enlisted  its  sympathies  in  their  behalf 
— have  represented,  and  with  some  coloring  of  reason, 
that  all  this  widespread  ruin  is  to  be  attributed  to 
emancipation  only.  But  thinking  and  intelligent  men 
are  no  longer  convinced  by  these  stale  complaints. 
They  can  not  now  be  brought  to  believe  that  the  lib 
eration  of  350,000  slaves,  whatever  may  have  been  its 
first  effect,  is  the  origin,  and  only  origin,  of  the  pover 
ty  and  distress  that  prevail  in  the  island  at  the  pres 
ent  day.  British  emancipation  may  have  been  un 
wise  ;  regarded  as  a  great  social  revolution,  the  man 
ner  in  which  the  scheme  was  executed  must  be  utter 
ly  condemned ;  private  rights  were  violated ;  their  sa- 
credness  was  dimmed  by  the  splendor  of  an  act  which 
gave  freedom  to  a  people  who  did  not  know  what 
freedom  meant ;  but  the  ruin  attributed  to  it  is,  in  Ja 
maica,  too  broad  and  too  deep  to  be  set  down  any 
longer  as  the  effect  of  that  one  solitary  cause.  No 
other  English  island  has  the  natural  advantages  that 
Jamaica  possesses;  no  other  English  island  exhibits 
the  same,  or  any  thing  like  the  same,  destitution :  yet 
all  have  passed  through  the  same  experience — all 
have  undergone  the  same  trial. 

Tempora  mutanlur  should  be  the  Jamaican  motto. 
Tempora  mutantur  with  a  vengeance!  Only  sixty 
years  ago,  and  the  dream  of  emancipation  had  not 
been  dreamt  even  by  a  Wilberforce,  and  the  then 
greatest  slave-trading  country  in  the  world  was  but 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  171 

opening  its  national  eyes  to  the  iniquity  of  the  ac 
cursed  traffic.  How  vehemently  the  planters  stood 
up  for  their  right  (who  dare  dispute  it?)  to  steal  Man- 
dingoes  and  Eboes  from  the  African  coast!  How 
forcibly  in  those  days  did  they  represent  the  unfriend 
liness  of  slavery  to  population,  and  groan  over  an  an 
nual  diminution  of  slave  property  which  only  the 
African  trade  could  keep  up  to  the  scanty  figure  of 
bare  sufficiency !  Their  representations  had,  at  least, 
the  merit  of  being  true;  for  though  600,000  slaves,  at 
the  lowest  estimate,  were  brought  to  Jamaica  during 
the  eighteenth  century,  it  is  well  known  that  at  the 
end  of  that  period  the  slave  population  of  the  whole 
island  was  not  much  more  than  one  half  of  that 
amount.  It  was  computed  by  the  political  economists 
of  the  day  that  Jamaica  required  an  annual  supply 
of  10,000  slaves  to  provide  against  the  wear  and  tear 
of  life ;  and  the  statement  will  appear  by  no  means 
incredible  to  those  who  have  examined  the  statistics 
of  Cuban  slavery  at  the  present  time.  In  spite  of  this 
immense  traffic,  ruthlessly  and  recklessly  carried  on, 
Jamaica  was  never  adequately  supplied  with  labor. 
The  slaves  were  overworked  to  satisfy  their  master's 
lust  for  gain,  and  to  this  the  great  mortality  has  been 
mainly  attributed.  That  great  mortality  ceased  with 
the  extinction  of  the  slave-trade,  for  the  planters  found 
it  incumbent  upon  them  to  take  more  care  of  their 
property ;  nevertheless,  in  spite  of  all  their  precau 
tions,  the  decrease  of  slaves  each  year  by  death,  with 
out  reference  to  the  decrease  by  manumission,  was 
considerably  larger  than  the  increase  by  birth;  and 
the  deficit,  now,  could  not  be  supplied. 

There  are  many  who  believe  that  great  crimes 


172      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

against  society,  in  the  case  of  nations  as  in  that  of  in 
dividuals,  are  followed  by  certain  punishment;  and, 
to  such,  the  impoverished  condition  of  the  Jamaica 
planters  of  the  present  day  will  seem  but  a  natural 
consequence  of  a  long  reign  of  avarice  and  cruelty,  of 
extravagance  and  oppression.  I  do  not  seek  to  take 
up  this  parable  against  them.  But  it  is  not  to  be  de 
nied  that  they  are  the  chief,  if  not  the  only  sufferers. 
The  large  landed  proprietors  and  merchant  potentates 
of  the  island,  these  are  the  men  who  have  fallen  from 
their  high  estate.  The  slaves  of  other  days,  the  poor, 
the  peasantry,  these  are  the  men  who  have  progress 
ed,  if  not  in  morality,  at  least  in  material  prosperity, 
as  I  shall  have  ample  opportunity  to  show.  If  the 
change  could  be  traced  solely  to  emancipation,  I 
should  be  loth  to  justify  emancipation,  believing  as  I 
do  that  it  would  be  wholly  inconsistent  with  morality 
or  the  dictates  of  a  sound  policy  to  degrade  that  por 
tion  of  the  population  which  controlled  the  elements 
of  civilization,  in  order  to  enrich  an  ignorant  and  un 
disciplined  people.  But  the  decline  of  Jamaica  has 
been  so  stupendous  as  of  itself  to  create  a  doubt 
whether  it  can  be  laid,  in  whole  or  even  in  part,  to 
the  emancipation  of  the  slaves.  A  witness  can  prove 
too  much;  and  the  advocates  for  a  slave  system  for 
Jamaica  have  appealed  to  testimony  which  places 
their  case  in  this  very  category. 

It  will  be  found  upon  examination  that  the  most 
prosperous  epoch  of  Jamaican  commerce  was  that  em 
braced  in  the  seven  years  immediately  preceding  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  Yet  it  is  a  notorious  fact, 
to  be  proved  by  parliamentary  blue-books,  that  even 
then  over  one  hundred  estates  on  the  island  had  been 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  173 

abandoned  for  debt.  During  the  seven  years  indi 
cated,  that  is,  from  1801  to  1807,  the  sugar  exports  of 
Jamaica  amounted  annually  to  an  average  of  133,000 
hhds.  During  the  seven  years  succeeding  the  year 
in  which  the  slave-trade  was  abolished,  from  1807  to 
1814,  the  annual  exports  fell  off  to  an  average  of 
118,000  hhds.  During  the  next  seven  years,  from 
1814  to  1821,  the  annual  average  was  about  110,000 
hhds. ;  from  1821  to  1828  it  was  96,000  hhds. ;  and 
from  1828  to  1835  it  was  90,000  hhds. ;  thus  showing 
a  steady  decline,  not  so  alarming,  it  is  true,  as  the  de 
cline  of  subsequent  years  (for  the  whole  sugar  expor 
tation  of  Jamaica  is  now  only  30,000  hhds.),  but  suffi 
ciently  serious  to  demonstrate  that  Jamaica  had  reach 
ed  its  maximum  prosperity  under  slavery,  and  had 
commenced  to  deteriorate  nearly  thirty  years  before 
the  emancipation  act  was  passed,  and  many  years  be 
fore  the  design  of  such  a  measure  was  elaborated,  or 
Mr.  Canning's  note  of  warning  was  sounded  in  "West 
Indian  ears.  A  comparison  of  Jamaican  exports  in 
1805,  her  year  of  greatest  prosperity,  with  her  exports 
in  1859,  must  appear  odious  to  her  inhabitants.  In 
the  former  year  the  island  exported  over  150,000 
hhds.  of  sugar,  and  in  the  latter  year  she  exported 
28,000  hhds.  The  exports  of  rum  and  coffee  exhibit 
the  same  proportionate  decrease. 

If  the  city  of  Kingston  be  taken  as  an  illustration 
of  the  prosperity  of  Jamaica,  the  visitor  will  arrive  at 
more  deplorable  conclusions  than  those  pointed  out 
by  commercial  statistics.  It  seems  like  a  romance  to 
read  to-day,  in  the  capital  of  Jamaica,  the  account 
of  that  capital's  former  splendor.  Its  "magnificent 
churches,"  now  time-worn  and  decayed,  are  scarcely 


174      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

superior  to  the  stables  of  some  Fifth- Avenue  magnate 
There  is  not  a  house  in  the  city  in  decent  repair ;  not 
one  that  looks  as  though  it  could  withstand  a  respect 
able  breeze ;  not  a  wharf  in  good  order ;  not  a  street 
that  can  exhibit  a  square  yard  of  pavement ;  no  side 
walks;  no  drainage;  scanty  water;  no  light.  The 
same  picture  of  neglect  and  apathy  greets  one  every 
where.  In  the  business  part  of  the  town  you  are  op 
pressed  with  its  inactivity.  Clerks  yawn  over  the 
counters,  or  hail  with  greedy  looks  the  solitary  stran 
ger  who  comes  in  to  purchase.  If  a  non-resident,  he 
is  made  to  suffer  for  the  dullness  of  the  market. 
Prices  that  in  New  York  would  be  deemed  exorbitant 
must  be  paid  by  strangers  for  the  common  necessities 
of  life.  The  Kingstonians  remind  me  much  of  the 
Bahama  wreckers.  Having  little  or  nothing  them 
selves,  they  look  upon  a  steamer-load  of  California 
passengers,  cast  away  in  their  harbor  for  a  night  or  a 
day,  as  very  Egyptians,  whom  it  is  not  only  their 
privilege  but  their  duty  to  despoil. 

There  is  nothing  like  work  done  in  Kingston,  ex 
cept,  perhaps,  in  the  establishments  of  a  few  European 
or  American  merchants,  or  on  the  piers,  now  and  then, 
at  the  loading  or  unloading  of  vessels.  The  city  was 
originally  well  laid  out,  but  it  is  not  ornamented  with 
a  single  tree,  and  the  square,  in  a  central  location,  is  a 
barren  desert  of  sand,  white-hot  with  exposure  to  the 
blazing  sun.  The  streets  are  filthy,  the  beach-lots 
more  so,  and  the  commonest  laws  of  health  are  totally 
disregarded.  "Wreck  and  ruin,  destitution  and  neg 
lect  !  There  is  nothing  new  in  Kingston.  The  peo 
ple,  like  their  horses,  their  houses,  and  all  that  belongs 
to  them,  look  old  and  worn.  There  are  no  improve- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  175 

ments  to  be  noted,  not  a  device,  ornament,  or  conceit 
of  any  kind  to  indicate  the  presence  of  taste  or  refine 
ment.  The  inhabitants,  taken  en  masse,  are  steeped  to 
the  eyelids  in  immorality;  promiscuous  intercourse 
of  the  sexes  is  the  rule ;  the  population  shows  an  un 
natural  decrease;  illegitimacy  exceeds  legitimacy; 
abortion  and  infanticide  are  not  unknown.  Kingston 
looks  what  it  is,  a  place  where  money  has  been  made, 
but  can  be  made  no  more.  It  is  used  up  and  cast 
aside  as  useless.  Nothing  is  replaced  that  time  de 
stroys.  If  a  brick  tumbles  from  a  house  to  the  street, 
it  remains  there ;  if  a  spout  is  loosened  by  the  wind, 
it  hangs  by  a  thread  till  it  falls ;  if  furniture  is  acci 
dentally  broken,  the  idea  of  having  it  mended  is  not 
entertained.  The  marks  of  a  helpless  poverty  are 
upon  the  faces  of  the  people  whom  you  meet,  in  their 
dress,  in  their  very  gait. 

Have  I  described  a  God-forsaken  place,  in  which 
no  one  seems  to  take  an  interest,  without  life  and  with 
out  energy,  old  and  dilapidated,  sickly  and  filthy,  cast 
away  from  the  anchorage  of  sound  morality,  of  reason, 
and  of  common  sense?  Then,  verily,  have  I  described 
Kingston  in  1860.  Yet  this  wretched  hulk  is  the 
capital  of  an  island  the  most  fertile  in  the  world ;  it 
is  blessed  with  a  climate  most  glorious ;  it  lies  rotting 
in  the  shadow  of  mountains  that  can  be  cultivated 
from  summit  to  base,  with  every  product  of  temper 
ate  and  tropical  regions ;  it  is  mistress  of  a  harbor 
where  a  thousand  line-of-battle  ships  can  safely  ride 
at  anchor. 

The  once  brimming  cup  of  Kingston's  prosperity 
has  been  indeed  emptied  to  the  dregs.  It  offers  no 
encouragement  that  this  splendid  island-inheritance, 


176      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

wasted  through  riotous  living  in  times  past,  will  ever 
be  redeemed.  You  must  look  beyond  Kingston  for 
the  grounds  of  such  a  hope.  You  must  escape  from 
its  sickly  atmosphere  and  the  listless  indifference  of  its 
people.  You  must  learn,  as  you  can  learn  from  the 
most  casual  observation,  that  the  island,  unlike  others 
that  can  be  mentioned,  is  in  no  exhausted  condition, 
but  is  fresh  and  fair,  and  abundantly  fertile  as  ever, 
with  every  variety  of  climate,  and  capable  of  yielding 
every  variety  of  product.  Up  in  these  tremendous 
hills  you  may  enjoy  the  luxury  of  a  frosty  night; 
down  upon  the  plains  you  may  bask  in  the  warmth 
of  a  fiery  sun.  There  you  can  raise  potatoes,  here 
you  can  raise  sugar-cane.  There  you  will  find  in 
terminable  forests  of  wild  pimento,  here  interminable 
acres  of  abandoned  properties — a  mass  of  jungle  and 
luxuriant  vegetation  choking  up  the  deserted  man 
sions  of  Jamaica's  ancient  aristocracy.  Scenes  most 
wonderfully  fair,  most  picturesque,  but  most  melan 
choly  to  look  upon ;  scenes  that  a  limner  might  love 
to  paint,  but  from  which  an  American  planter  would 
turn  in  disgust  and  contempt. 

This  magnificent  country,  wanting  nothing  but  cap 
ital  and  labor  for  its  complete  restoration  to  a  pros 
perity  far  greater  than  it  ever  yet  attained,  is  now 
sparsely  settled  by  small  negro  cultivators,  who  have 
been  able  to  purchase  their  plots  of  land  for  £2  and 
£3  an  acre.  With  a  month's  work  on  their  own 
properties  they  can  earn  as  much  as  a  year's  labor  on 
a  sugar-estate  would  yield  them.  They  are  superior, 
pecuniarily  speaking,  to  servitude ;  and  by  a  law  of 
nature  that  can  not  be  gainsaid,  they  prefer  independ 
ence  to  labor  for  hire.  Why  should  they  be  blamed  ? 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  177 

But  the  fact  remains  that  the  island  is  nearly  destitute 
of  labor;  that  partly  through  want  of  labor  sugar 
cultivation  has  been  abandoned ;  and  by  an  adequate 
supply  of  labor  can  it  only  be  revived.  Covering 
an  area  of  four  millions  of  acres,  Jamaica  has  a  pop 
ulation  of  378,000,  white,  black,  and  mulatto.  This 
makes  about  eleven  acres  to  each  person.  In  the 
flourishing  island  of  Barbados  the  proportion  is  near 
ly  one  and  a  half  persons  to  each  acre.  If  Jamaica 
were  as  thickly  populated  as  Barbados,  it  would  con 
tain  over  five  millions  of  souls,  and  would  export  a 
million  hogsheads.  Till  its  present  population  has 
been  doubled  and  trebled  no  material  improvement 
can  be  looked  for.  But  where  is  the  money — where 
are  the  vigor  and  the  energy  necessary  to  obtain  this 
population  ?  Whose  fault  is  it  that  these  are  want 
ing,  and  that  Jamaica,  with  far  greater  advantages 
than  Trinidad  or  Guiana,  has  failed  to  follow  the  foot 
steps  of  their  success?  Is  this  also  the  result  of 
emancipation  ? 

The  Jamaica  question  is  prolific  of  controversy,  and 
I  can  not  hope  that  my  allegations  and  inferences  will 
pass  unchallenged.  I  shall,  for  this  reason,  confine 
myself  as  much  as  possible  to  statements  of  fact.  Per 
haps  I  may  be  excused  for  alluding  to  myself  so  far 
as  to  say  that  I  came  to  the  West  Indies  imbued  with 
the  American  idea  that  African  freedom  had  been  a 
curse  to  every  branch  of  agricultural  and  commercial 
industry.  I  shall  leave  these  islands  overwhelmed 
with  a  very  opposite  conviction  ;  and  if  I  can  convey 
to  others  any  thing  like  a  truthful  picture  of  Jamaica 
life,  and  of  the  civil  and  social  condition  of  the  people 
who  are  so  erroneously  supposed,  by  their  indolence 
H2 


178      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

and  improvidence,  to  have  plunged  themselves  and 
their  country  in  hopeless  ruin,  my  task,  however  im 
perfectly  performed,  can  not  be  a  profitless  one.  If  I 
can  stimulate  inquiry  on  a  subject  so  important  and 
so  widely  misunderstood  as  the  West  India  labor 
question,  I  shall  have  achieved  all  the  success  at  which 
I  ever  thought  of  aiming.  I  hope  to  be  able  to  show 
to  others  as  plainly  as  the  conviction  has  come  home 
to  myself,  that  disaster  and  misfortune  have  followed 
— not  emancipation — but  the  failure  to  observe  those 
great  principles  of  liberty  and  justice  upon  which  the 
foundations  of  emancipation  were  solidly  laid.  The 
very  highest  influence  has  ever  been  exerted,  and  is 
still  exerted,  to  support  the  old  plantocratic  dynasty 
and  its  feudalisms — things  that  were  meant  to  die, 
and  ought  to  have  died,  as  soon  as  the  props  of  slav 
ery,  protection,  and  other  monopolies  were  removed. 
Every  one  admits  that  the  sugar  interest  is  a  most 
important  interest,  whose  expansion  should  be  facili 
tated  by  all  legitimate  means;  but  only  evil  has 
grown  out  of  the  attempt  to  foster  it  by  a  system  of 
quasi-slavery,  and  at  the  expense  of  other  interests 
upon  which  the  prosperity  of  a  country  must  largely 
depend.  The  people  of  Jamaica  are  not  cared  for ; 
they  perish  miserably  in  country  districts  for  want  of 
medical  aid ;  they  are  not  instructed ;  they  have  no 
opportunities  to  improve  themselves  in  agriculture  or 
mechanics ;  every  effort  is  made  to  check  a  spirit  of 
independence,  which  in  the  African  is  counted  a  hein 
ous  crime,  but  in  all  other  people  is  regarded  as  a 
lofty  virtue,  and  the  germ  of  national  courage,  en 
terprise,  and  progress.  Emancipation  has  not  been 
wholly  successful  because  the  experiment  has  not 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  179 

been  wholly  tried.  But  the  success  is  none  the  less 
emphatic  and  decided.  The  crop  appears  in  patches, 
even  as  it  was  sown,  forcing  itself  here  and  there 
through  the  ruins  of  the  old  fabric  which  disfigures 
still  the  political  complexion  of  the  island  and  sorely 
cramps  the  energies  of  its  people. 


180      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER   XIX. 

A  TOUR  THROUGH  THE   INTERIOR  OF  JAMAICA. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  I860. 

I  DO  not  think  I  can  do  better,  in  the  treatment  of 
this  West  India  labor  question,  than  describe  a  some 
what  extended  tour  that  I  have  made  through  the  in 
terior  of  Jamaica.  The  impressions  that  this  trip  have 
left  upon  my  mind  are  certainly  not  unfavorable  to 
the  industry  and  capacity  of  the  black  population.  I 
do  not  for  a  moment  pretend  that  Jamaica  is  free  from 
idleness  and  vice.  I  do  not  pretend  that  her  peasant 
ry  are  as  laborious  as  you  will  find  men  in  a  New 
York,  a  New  England,  or  an  Old  England  agricultur 
al  district.  It  is  not  natural  that  they  should  be  so. 
But  actual  observation  has  convinced  me  that  indus 
try  among  the  free  population  of  Jamaica  is  the  rule 
and  not  the  exception ;  and  if  idleness  be  an  excep 
tion  broader  than  we  could  wish — larger  than  any 
part  of  North  America  presents — we  must  look  for 
the  cause,  not  to  the  intractable  disposition  of  the  ne 
gro,  but  to  faults  of  discipline  or  absence  of  education 
for  which  the  governing  classes  are  responsible ;  and, 
in  no  small  degree,  to  the  overwhelming  temptations 
that  a  West  Indian  climate  offers  to  all,  white  and 
black,  to  enjoy  their  otium  cum  aut  sine  dignitate. 

There  is  a  railway  between  Kingston  and  Spanish 
Town — the  former  being  the  principal  sea-port,  and 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  181 

the  latter  the  seat  of  the  Jamaican  government.  The 
distance,  about  twelve  miles,  is  performed  in  three 
quarters  of  an  hour.  There  are  first,  second,  and  third 
classes.  The  prices  are  reasonable,  being  two  shillings, 
one  shilling,  and  sixpence  sterling  respectively.  The 
cars  are  comfortable,  and  the  road  is  good.  It  is,  in 
deed,  a  blessing,  this  little  line  of  railway,  by  means 
of  which  you  can  be  hurried  in  a  brief  space  of  time 
from  the  stupor  of  Kingston.  As  soon  as  I  heard  the 
familiar  whistle  and  felt  the  air  rushing  by  me,  I  began 
to  breathe  again.  This  minute  effort  of  enterprise  is, 
nevertheless,  a  perpetual  reminder  to  Jamaicans  of  the 
depreciated  credit  of  their  island,  and  of  the  low  esti 
mate  at  which  its  most  solemn  engagements  are  rated 
in  the  mother  land.  Last  year  a  bill  passed  the  Legis 
lature  for  the  extension  of  the  railroad  from  Spanish 
Town  to  the  sea-port  of  Old  Harbor,  a  distance  of  some 
ten  miles.  The  colonial  government  guaranteed  an 
interest  of  six  per  cent,  on  the  money  to  be  expended 
in  the  work ;  yet  neither  in  the  island  nor  in  England 
would  capitalists  advance  that  money,  and  up  to  the 
present  time  not  a  single  dollar  has  been  raised  to  fur 
ther  this  important  "undertaking. 

The  country  between  Kingston  and  Spanish  Town 
is  low,  marshy,  and  covered  with  forest  and  under 
wood.  If  it  were  not  for  the  difference  in  foliage  you 
might  fancy  yourself,  on  some  ferocious  summer's  day, 
passing  through  the  New  York  wilderness.  You  get 
a  glimpse  here  and  there  of  a  rough  settlement,  or  an 
acre  or  so  of  poor  pasturage,  deeply  shaded,  but  there 
are  few  attempts  at  higher  cultivation.  I  saw  upon 
the  route  three  plots  of  Guinea  corn  in  a  tolerably 
flourishing  condition. 


182      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

I  need  not  make  a  long  pause  to  describe  Spanish 
Town,  or  St.  Jago  de  la  Yega,  as  it  was  formerly  call 
ed.  Yonkers  is  a  metropolis  to  it.  A  coup  d'ceil,  if 
such  could  be  obtained,  would  reveal  a  collection  of 
grotesque  houses  that  might  be  mistaken  for  some  dis 
emboweled  Caribbean  village  of  antediluvian  founda 
tion.  ,  I  do  not  know  exactly  where  ihe  historian  of 
fifty  years  ago  stood  when  he  looked  upon  St.  Jago 
de  la  Yega,  and  described  it  as  "a  city  of  imposing 
appearance,  built  in  the  magnificent  style  of  Spanish 
architecture."  Inspected  in  detail,  Spanish  Town  will 
be  found  to  possess  two  big  buildings  facing  each  oth 
er  on  the  central  square  of  the  "city;"  one  the  resi 
dence  of  the  governor,  called  the  King's  House,  and 
the  other  the  House  of  Assembly  and  public  offices. 
Both  are  creditable  buildings.  Upon  further  scruti 
ny  some  neat,  quiet  little  private  residences  may  be 
discovered,  and  one  inn,  such  as  the  adventurous  trav 
eler  might  expect  to  meet  with  on  the  outskirts  of  a 
Canadian  forest.  The  floor  of  that  inn  is  highly  pol 
ished,  every  thing  is  neat  and  clean,  and  the  table  is 
furnished  for  the  benefit  of  guests  with  several  vol 
umes  printed  in  the  last  century.  The  population  of 
Spanish  Town  is  about  5000,  nine  tenths  of  whom,  I 
presume,  gain  their  living  by  supplying  the  wants  and 
necessities  of  government  hangers-on,  who  constitute 
the  other  tenth.  It  is  not,  on  the  whole,  an  uninter 
esting  place.  The  atmosphere  is  cooler  than  it  is  on 
the  Southern  coast,  and  the  streets,  though  very  nar 
row,  are  cleaner  and  far  better  regulated  than  the 
streets  of  Kingston.  Both  Houses  were  in  session 
when  I  passed  through  Spanish  Town ;  but,  as  I  shall 
hereafter  have  occasion  to  explain  the  franchise  and 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  183 

the  effect  of  recent  legislation  in  the  island,  I  lay  up 
these  matters  for  further  experience.  Nor  will  I  do 
unto  others  as  I  was  done  by,  and  victimize  the  read 
er  with  the  debates  of  the  Jamaican  Assembly.  The 
ability  of  members,  with  one  or  two  exceptions,  did 
not  seem  to  me  to  reach  even  a  provincial  standard 
of  mediocrity,  and  the  subjects  discussed  were,  of 
course,  most  uninteresting  to  a  stranger.  I  pass  from 
this  topic  the  more  readily,  as  I  think  it  unfair  to  crit 
icise  with  severity  the  representatives  of  an  impover 
ished  and  isolated  colony  like  Jamaica,  and  especially 
as  these  representatives  are  on  the  eve  of  abandoning 
their  seats  under  a  new  election  law.  "With  education 
in  its  infancy  over  the  whole  island,  in  some  districts 
almost  struggling  for  existence,  the  people  are  largely 
represented.  I  think  a  majority  of  the  small  proprie 
tors  and  settlers  are  intelligent  enough  to  exercise  the 
right  of  voting  to  their  own  advantage  and  to  the  ad 
vantage  of  this  great  dependency  of  the  English 
crown,  but  it  is  an  experiment  not  yet  fully  and  fair 
ly  tried.  It  is  an  experiment  which,  if  carried  out, 
will  entirely  remove  the  government  of  the  island 
from  the  control  of  the  planters — a  control  that,  for 
some  time,  they  have  seemed  utterly  indifferent  about 
possessing.  The  plantocracy  of  Jamaica  is  a  thing  of 
the  past,  and  in  its  stead  democracy  is  lifting  lip  its 
head.  I  am  not  so  enthusiastic  a  democrat  as  to  be 
lieve  that  the  principles  of  our  political  faith,  much 
less  its  practice,  will  flourish  in  any  soil  or  in  any 
climate.  The  untutored  negro,  of  all  people  in  the 
world,  is  most  easily  influenced  by  a  bribe,  and  dem 
agogues  and  office-hunters  are  plentiful  in  Jamaica. 
If  the  experiment  of  popular  representation  and  re- 


184      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

sponsible  government  should  prove  a  failure,  there 
will  be  no  resource  left  but  to  establish  here  such  a 
government  as  exists  in  the  crown  colonies  of  Trini 
dad  and  British  Guiana.  The  one  is  ruled  by  a  coun 
cil,  the  other  by  a  court  of  policy — synonymous  terms 
for  a  go-ahead  despotism,  which  Canada  or  Australia 
would  not  tolerate  for  an  instant,  but  which  appears 
to  answer  very  well  for  an  embryo  civilization  and  a 
mixed  people. 

These  are  reflections  that  belong  to  the  air  of  Span 
ish  Town.  Having  emerged  from  that  quaint  collec 
tion  of  ancient  domiciles  as  the  rising  sun  illuminated 
the  hill-tops,  on  a  first-rate  road,  in  a  comfortable  bug 
gy,  and  behind  a  pair  of  excellent  travelers,  one  for 
swears  politics,  and  begins  to  feel  that  exhilaration  of 
spirits  which  the  atmosphere  of  Jamaica  is  truly  said 
to  produce.  The  road  lies  through  a  wooded  and 
rather  swampy  district,  and,  if  it  be  a  Saturday  morn 
ing,  the  traveler  will  encounter,  for  several  miles,  a 
continuous  stream  of  sturdy,  good-looking  wenches, 
carrying  on  their  heads  to  the  Spanish  Town  market 
most  marvelous  loads  of  fruit  and  vegetables.  A  few 
of  them,  more  fortunate  than  their  fellows,  have  don 
keys  with  well-filled  panniers,  but  they  do  not,  on  this 
account,  neglect  the  inevitable  head-load.  Consider 
ing  the  distance  they  come,  the  heat  of  the  weather, 
the  size  of  their  burdens,  and  the  paltry  remuneration 
they  get  at  market,  the  performance  is  highly  credita 
ble  to  the  enterprise,  energy,  and  activity  of  Jamaica 
negro  women.  I  doubt  whether  our  laboring  men 
could  execute  the  same  task;  they  certainly  would 
not  undertake  it  for  the  same  consideration. 

The  descent  from  St.  Catherine's  Parish,  to  which 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  185 

Spanish  Town  belongs,  into  the  Parish  of  St.  Thomas- 
in- the- Vale,  through  the  "Bog  Walk"  so  called,  is  pic 
turesque  and  grand.  The  road  winds  along  a  stream 
from  whose  banks  the  hills  rise  precipitously  and  form 
a  narrow  gorge.  Every  furlong  furnishes  some  new 
variety  to  the  scenery.  You  look  back  and  trace  a 
silvery  thread  of  water  through  the  graceful  plumage 
of  a  bamboo  cluster ;  now  it  is  a  grove  of  plantains, 
or  some  huge  gaunt  cotton-tree,  rising  above  its  com 
peers,  and  stretching  its  arms  from  hill  to  hill,  that 
forms  the  foreground  of  the  picture.  Mountains  on 
every  side ;  and  the  passages  among  them  are  at  times 
so  narrow  and  the  precipices  so  steep,  that  the  travel 
er  involuntarily  hurries  on,  fearful  lest  some  sudden 
catastrophe  in  this  land  of  untoward  convulsions 
should  bring  the  hills  together  and  fill  up  the  chasm 
forever. 

The  valley  soon  widens.  Linstead,  the  principal 
village  in  St.  Thomas-in-the-Vale,  lies  in  the  centre 
of  an  almost  circular  hollow  shut  in  by  mountains. 
The  road-side  is  studded  with  the  cottages  of  small 
settlers.  I  entered  one  or  two  of  the  most  ragged  and 
dilapidated,  and  invariably  found  them  clean.  Some 
were  mere  frame- works  of  bamboo,  with  thatched 
roofs  of  cocoanut  leaves.  Still  they  looked  comfort 
able.  They  kept  out  the  rain  and  let  in  the  breeze, 
and  this  is  all  that  is  needed  in  a  West  India  climate. 
I  found  them  more  tasteful  and  far  cleaner  than  the 
dwellings  of  North  American  Indians.  Supposing 
the  advantages  of  education  equal,  I  should  not  hesi 
tate  to  declare  in  favor  of  the  superior  intelligence, 
honesty,  industry,  and  sobriety  of  the  West  India  ne 
gro,  when  compared  with  any  specimen  of  the  Amer- 


186      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

lean  Indian  that  could  be  produced,  though  it  has 
been  the  fashion  to  regard  the  latter  as  belonging  to 
the  superior  race. 

I  did  not  reach  Linstead,  of  course,  without  passing 
abandoned  sugar-properties.  I  do  not  think  that  five 
miles  can  be  traveled,  on  any  road  in  Jamaica,  with 
out  seeing  one  deserted  estate  at  the  very  least.  They 
are  any  where  and  every  where  a  melancholy  sight 
to  look  upon,  and  need  no  particular  description  to 
be  readily  identified.  Some  two,  four,  or  eight  hund 
red  acres,  as  the  case  may  be,  of  splendidly  fertile 
land  overgrown  with  brushwood  and  rank  weeds; 
the  plantation-house  looking  like  one  of  the  ruins  in 
the  Swiss  Valley  of  the  Rhine ;  patches  of  corn  and 
vegetables,  or  groups  of  plantains,  dotting  the  space 
once  filled  by  an  uncheckered  field  of  sugar-cane. 
Negro  settlers  are  always  to  be  found  clinging  round 
these  deserted  plantations.  They  were  probably  born 
on  them,  and  are  loth  to  leave.  They  buy  or  hire 
their  little  plots  of  ground  from  the  owners  of  the  es 
tate  or  their  agents.  I  have  conversed  with  many  of 
these  people,  and  I  have  been  amused  at  their  utter 
ignorance  of  the  fact  that  the  world  at  large  holds 
them  responsible  for  the  ruin  of  Jamaica.  While 
proprietors  say  that  the  negroes  are  too  independent 
to  work,  the  negroes  say  that  proprietors  are  too  poor 
to  pay,  or  that  they  will  not  pay  regularly,  which  is  a 
great  grievance  to  a  people  who  live  from  hand  to 
mouth.  There  is,  doubtless,  truth  in  both  assertions. 
But  when  I  see  an  abandoned  estate  still  surrounded 
by  industrious  settlers  and  laborers,  I  think  it  some 
thing  like  primd  facie  evidence  that  the  proprietor  in 
England  has  abandoned  them,  not  they  the  proprietor. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  187 

Linstead  is  a  pleasant  little  village — lively  enough 
on  Saturday  mornings,  when  its  only  street,  which  is 
also  its  only  market-place,  is  thronged  with  peasants 
who  have  come  in  to  buy  or  to  sell.  Commend  me  to 
a  West  Indian  market  as  a  fit  illustration  of  Babel  after 
the  confusion  of  tongues.  These  people  are  quite  as 
anxious  to  sell  as  the  progeny  of  Noe  were  to  build. 
The  sum  of  their  ambition  is  to  get  rid  of  the  little  lot 
of  yams  and  oranges  that  they  have  brought  many  a 
weary  mile.  They  get  a  shilling  or  two  for  their 
produce,  and  return  as  happy  as  though  they  were 
millionaires.  I  never  lived  among  a  more  cheerful 
or  a  more  civil  people.  Each  man,  woman,  or  child 
that  you  meet  along  the  road — I  speak  exclusively  of 
the  peasantry — gives  a  hearty  "Good  mornin',  massa," 
and  a  respectful  salutation.  Their  spirits  are  buoyant, 
and  they  are  ever  ready  for  a  joke  or  a  laugh,  if  you 
are  disposed  to  bandy  words  with  them.  The  crowd 
collected  in  the  Linstead  market-place  may  be  heard  a 
mile  off,  but  there  is  no  quarreling  of  any  kind.  It  is 
their  fashion  to  make  a  noise  and  talk  incessantly,  as 
why  should  they  not?  Their  exuberance  of  spirit 
needs  an  outlet,  and  their  only  amusements  are  to 
laugh  and  gossip.  There  is  a  police  force  stationed 
in  every  village  of  the  island,  and  the  white  uniform 
and  black  visage  of  an  officer  can  be  distinguished 
here  and  there  among  the  Linstead  crowd.  They 
fraternize  with  the  people,  but,  more  ornamental  than 
useful,  their  official  services  are  seldom  required. 

Leaving  Linstead,  we  travel  through  the  parish  of 
St.  Thomas-in-the-Vale,  in  a  northerly  direction.  We 
pass  the  huts  of  many  more  settlers,  several  abandoned 
properties,  and  one  or  two  estates  still  in  sugar-cane, 


188      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

but  cultivated  negligently,  it  seemed  to  me,  without 
any  finish,  as  though  poverty  was  cramping  the  pro 
prietors,  and  preventing  them  from  making  the  barest 
outlay  necessary  for  moderate  returns.  One  estate, 
lying  at  the  base  of  Mount  Diabolo,  had  been  aban 
doned,  I  was  informed,  because  the  owner,  who  lived 
in  England,  could  not  afford  to  pay  for  labor.  I  am 
not  able  to  say,  of  my  own  knowledge,  whether  labor 
could  be  procured  in  the  neighborhood,  but  my  in 
formant  said  it  could.  There  was  at  least  an  abund 
ance  of  settlers. 

At  this  point  the  ascent  of  Mount  Diabolo  is  com 
menced.  The  hill  is  well  named.  You  enter  now  a 
region  of  primeval  forest,  and  for  four  miles  the  jour 
ney  is  extremely  toilsome.  The  huts  of  settlers  are 
thick  as  heretofore,  and  are  buried  in  the  trees,  often 
not  to  be  distinguished  at  all  except  by  the  peculiar 
foliage  of  the  plantain  and  the  cocoanut-trees  which 
invariably  surround  them.  These  mountain  settlers 
also  grow  pimento,  coffee,  and  corn.  Most  of  them 
have  their  horses,  and  are  really  as  independent  and 
well  off  as  one  would  wish  to  see  any  people  in  the 
world.  Half  way  up  Mount  Diabolo  a  splendid  view 
can  be  obtained  of  nearly  the  whole  parish  of  St. 
Thomas-in-the-Yale.  It  gives  a  stranger  some  insight 
of  the  true  state  of  Jamaica  cultivation.  This  parish — 
with  the  exception  of  three  the  most  densely  peopled 
in  the  island — presents,  when  seen  from  an  elevation, 
merely  a  wild  wood-land,  interspersed  here  and  there 
with  small  specks  of  cultivation.  Its  general  charac 
ter  is  that  of  unredeemed  forest ;  yet  its  fertility  is  so 
great  that  it  is  fully  capable  of  sustaining  200,000  in 
stead  of  the  16,000  people  who  now  inhabit  it.  St. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  189 

Thomas-in-the-Vale  gives,  as  I  have  stated,  more  peo 
ple  to  the  square  mile  than  any  other  parish  in  the 
island,  except  Kingston,  Port  Eoyal,  and  St.  Andrew, 
in  which,  be  it  remembered,  large  towns  are  located. 
It  is  a  fact,  therefore,  worthy  of  notice,  that  in  this 
comparatively  populous  district  there  are  far  fewer 
sugar  estates  in  present  cultivation  than  in  parishes 
less  favorably  situated  with  regard  to  labor.  St. 
Thornas-in-the-Vale  has  a  population  of  125  to  the 
square  mile,  against  a  population  of  79  to  the  square 
mile  in  Westmoreland,  one  of  the  principal  sugar-ex 
porting  parishes  in  the  island,  of  102  in  Trelawny,  the 
largest  sugar-growing  parish,  and  one  that  includes 
the  populous  town  of  Falmouth,  and  of  28  in  Vere, 
another  flourishing  sugar  district.  These  are  facts 
which  seem  to  require  an  explanation  from  those  who 
insist  that  want  of  labor  is  the  sole  cause  of  the  aban 
donment  of  sugar  cultivation  in  Jamaica.  I  admit, 
and  shall  prove,  that  want  of  labor  has  been  one 
cause  of  the  island's  depreciation ;  but  if  it  were  the 
sole  cause,  or  even  the  preponderating  cause,  it  would 
be  only  reasonable  to  expect  that  those  parishes  most 
sparsely  populated  would  be  the  first  to  abandon  the 
cultivation  of  the  cane.  The  reverse,  however,  hap 
pens  to  be  the  case. 

A  projecting  cliff  shuts  out  the  parish  of  St.  Thomas- 
in-the-Vale  from  our  view  as  we  continue  to  ascend 
the  steep  sides  of  Mount  Diabolo.  The  clouds  now 
rest  on  the  summits  of  mountains  at  our  feet;  the 
wind  that  rushes  to  meet  us  feels  cold  and  bleak ;  we 
have  entered  a  region  of  eternal  mist  and  rain.  The 
transition  to  this  atmosphere  from  the  hot  valley  be 
low  is  too  sudden  to  be  comfortable.  I  was,  there- 


190      THE  OKUEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

fore,  glad  to  find  myself  descending  the  opposite  side 
of  the  mountain — once  more  in  the  sunshine,  and  at  a 
sufficient  elevation  to  make  the  air  deliciously  cool. 
The  scene,  too,  has  changed.  The  forest  has  dis 
appeared,  and  coffee  and  pimento  plantations  have 
taken  its  place ;  the  houses  of  proprietors  look  no 
longer  dilapidated ;  the  pens  and  pasturage  lands 
might  be  mistaken  for  New  York  farms.  At  the 
Moneague,  a  village  lying  on  the  northern  slope  of 
the  mountains  just  crossed,  the  traveler  will  pause  to 
sleep,  if  it  be  late,  but  to  feed  under  any  circumstances ; 
for  the  hotel,  built  only  ten  years  ago  (wonderful  fact 
for  Jamaica !)  is  the  best  in  the  island. 

The  Moneague  is  in  St.  Anne's,  a  very  charming 
parish  that  grows  very  little  sugar.  I  protest  against 
the  West  Indian  valuation  of  a  place  by  the  quantity 
of  sugar  that  it  actually  produces.  There  is  not  a 
sugar  estate  near  the  Moneague,  but  settlers,  of  whom 
there  are  many,  have  to  pay  §6  to  $10  a  year  for  an 
acre  of  land — sums  that  would  purchase  land  out  and 
out  in  other  districts  quite  as  fertile  as  this.  But  the 
climate  here  is  healthy ;  the  grass  can  almost  be  seen 
growing ;  the  horses  are  strong  and  the  oxen  fat ; 
vegetables  are  plentiful ;  fruit  is  luxuriant ;  and  every 
thing  seems  to  thrive.  I  do  not  wonder  when  the  in 
habitants  of  the  Moneague  declare  that  no  money 
would  induce  them  to  live  any  where  else. 

I  passed  a  Sunday  in  the  Moneague,  and  it  was  a 
model  of  quiet  and  respectability.  The  churches  were 
filled  with  well-dressed  and  attentive  congregations. 
There  was  no  drunkenness  or  debauchery,  or  assem 
blage  of  idlers  in  the  village  during  the  entire  day. 
But  church  attendance  and  Sabbath  observance,  it  is 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  191 

argued,  are  no  proofs,  among  a  negro  population  at 
least,  of  moral  rectitude.  The  assertion  is  not  desti 
tute  of  truth.  I  never  knew  a  people  more  faithful 
than  these  are  to  the  formalities  of  religion,  although 
chastity,  among  the  lower  classes  especially,  is  dread 
fully  ignored.  I  do  not  think,  however,  that  licen 
tiousness  in  the  emancipated  islands  will  discourage 
or  astonish  those  who  have  any  conception  of  the  im 
morality  that  slavery  not  only  engendered  but  en 
forced.  Comparisons  between  past  and  present  times 
will  show  that  marriages  are  much  more  frequent  in 
Jamaica  now  than  they  were  then,  and  patient  investi 
gation  will  prove  that  the  prevalence  of  social  vice  is 
but  an  evidence  of  the  island's  very  recent  deliverance 
from  a  state  of  actual  barbarism,  and  of  the  very  little 
that  has  been  done  to  civilize  and  educate  a  willing 
people.  I  really  believe  that  the  eagerness  of  the 
African  populations  to  attend  places  of  public  wor 
ship  should  be  construed  as  an  earnest  desire,  on  their 
part,  to  learn.  At  the  same  time  I  am  unable  to  agree 
with  those  well-meaning  enthusiasts  who  find  argu 
ments  to  support  their  views  of  political  economy  in 
a  crowded  church  or  in  popular  zeal  for  devotional 
exercises.  It  is  upon  other  grounds  altogether  that  I 
combat  the  ridiculous  assertion  that  these  people  can 
not  be  elevated  to  the  level  of  the  Caucasian  race,  or 
that  any  moral  or  physical  defect  prevents  them  from 
becoming,  under  a  free  system,  industrious  and  useful 
citizens. 


192      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  XX. 

A  TOUR   CONTINUED. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860, 

I  RESUME  the  description  of  my  tour  through  the 
interior  of  Jamaica  at  the  point  abandoned  in  the  last 
chapter. 

From  the  Moneague  village  to  a  place  called  "The 
Finger  Post,"  on  the  route  to  the  north  side  of  the  isl 
and,  the  road  winds,  for  several  miles,  round  the  sum 
mits  of  hills,  now  up,  now  down,  bad  enough  in  this 
dry  season,  but  axle-deep  during  rainy  weather,  in  a 
red,  slimy  mud.  The  macadamizers  are  at  work  here. 
Within  the  memory  of  living  man,  and  men  among 
these  mountains  live  a  century,  it  was  never  essayed 
to  repair  the  road  until  now.  But  two  or  three  years 
ago  and  the  same  remark  might  be  made  of  all  the 
roads  in  Jamaica,  showing  very  conclusively  that  the 
plantocracy  of  other  days  were  not  too  deeply  inter 
ested  in  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  island,  or  too 
willing  to  expend  a  portion  of  their  revenues  in  an 
investment  that  promised  no  immediate  return.  It 
was  a  grave  error,  as  any  sound  political  economist 
of  ancient  or  modern  times  would  have  tolcl  them ; 
as  they  themselves  now  admit  when  they  find  them 
selves  compelled  to  abandon  the  cultivation  of  sugar, 
or  carry  it  on  at  an  extravagant  cost  and  loss  of  stock, 
in  consequence  of  bad  roads.  A  simple  evil,  it  may 


THE   BKITISH   WEST  INDIES.  193 

be  said,  and  requiring  a  simple  remedy ;  nevertheless, 
the  fact  is  not  without  significance,  that  the  first  at 
tempt  to  make  decent  roads  is  under  a  democratic 
regime. 

I  had  a  good  opportunity  to  see  the  laborers  of 
both  sexes  on  these  and  other  roads  in  different  parts 
of  the  country.  Most  of  the  male  laborers  were  strap 
ping  young  fellows  of  twenty  or  thereabouts,  who 
seemed  to  do  good  service — who  must  have  done  good 
service,  to  judge  by  the  amount  of  work  performed. 
They  belong  to  the  new  race  of  freemen  born  ;  how  su 
perior  to  the  old  race,  born  in  slavery,  and  fast  dying 
out,  I  need  not  say.  The  overseers  on  these  roads 
make  no  complaints  against  the  men  under  their 
charge  that  they  are  idle  and  unwilling  to  work ;  and, 
what  is  of  more  importance,  they  make  no  complaint 
of  an  insufficiency  of  hands.  They  have  succeeded 
in  getting  a  larger  supply  of  labor  than  most  people 
deemed  possible,  and  their  success  has  excited  some 
surprise  in  districts  where  the  planters  have  long  and 
bitterly  complained  that  they  could  get  no  labor  at 
all. 

';  Expound  to  me  the  riddle,"  I  say  to  the  planter. 

"Oh,"  he  answers,  "the  people  are  too  independent, 
too  well  off  here — too  fickle,  arbitrary,  and  uncertain 
as  to  when  they  will  work  and  when  they  will  not 
work.  They  just  do  as  they  please.  They  work  on 
the  roads  for  a  month  and  then  give  it  up.  Then 
they  take  to  something  else  and  give  that  up.  This 
is  the  way  they  have  treated  us.  They  ride  upon 
our  backs,  sir.  They  work  for  us  only  four  days  in 
the  week,  and  hang  about  their  own  properties  or  go 
to  market  on  the  other  two.  We  can  not  improve 

I 


194      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FBEE  LABOR  IN 

our  estates  without  a  full  week's  labor.  Our  proper 
ties  deteriorate  every  year  for  want  of  contract  or 
continued  labor.  Now,  to  illustrate  the  character  of 
the  negro,  I  should  like  to  show  you  in  what  style  a 
body  of  men  would  clear  fifty  acres.  They  would 
work  as  well  and  as  cleverly  as  American  backwoods 
men.  'These  men  lazy?'  you  would  say.  'Pshaw! 
They  are  heroes.'  But  if  I  wanted  their  services  for 
six  months  I  could  not  get  them ;  they  would  insist 
on  going  back  to  peddle  on  their  own  properties;  I 
would  be  unable,  for  want  of  labor,  to  plant  the  land 
I  had  cleared;  the  capital  I  had  expended  would  be 
wasted,  and  my  plans  utterly  frustrated."  /Sic  loqui 
tur. 

There  is  a  great  deal  of  truth  in  all  this. 

"Expound  to  me  the  riddle,"  I  say  to  the  over 
seer  on  the  road,  to  the  merchant,  the  small  proprie 
tor,  or  to  any  one  whom  I  suppose  to  be  partial  to  the 
negro  in  the  controversy  between  the  laboring  and 
the  proprietary  interests.  "  Surely  it  is  work  less  se 
vere  to  hoe  in  a  cane-field  than  to  hammer  stones  on 
the  road-side?" 

"  Well,  you  see  that  laborers  on  the  road  are  paid 
regularly  once  a  week,  while  laborers  on  the  estates 
often  have  to  go  two  and  three  months  without  their 
wages;  and  the  men  do  not  like  that.  Sometimes, 
too,  they  lose  their  pay  altogether." 

Here  was  something  to  think  about;  and  I  did 
think  about  it,  making  a  note  thereof,  and  many  notes 
thereafter  to  the  same  effect.  I  found  that  there  was 
much  truth  in  what  I  was  told — that  many  proprie 
tors  of  sugar-estates  are  really  unable  to  pay  for  la 
bor;  that,  although  want  of  labor,  that  is,  want  of 


THE  BRITISH   WEST  INDIES.  195 

such  a  competition  as  would  prevent  labor  being  ty 
rannical,  is  one  cause  of  the  island's  scanty  cultiva 
tion,  yet  another  and  more  serious  cause  is  want  of 
capital.  Money  is  the  one  essential  thing  needed  by 
the  Jamaica  proprietary.  They  have  no  money ;  they 
have  no  credit.  The  post-obits,  drawn  in  the  days 
of  a  flourishing  plantocracy,  have  been  long  over-due, 
and  they  exceed  in  amount  by  a  thousand  per  cent, 
the  actual  value  of  the  property  pawned.  Money 
can  not  be  raised  in  Jamaica,  and  without  money,  or 
its  equivalent,  a  country  in  these  days  is  without  la 
bor,  life,  learning,  religion.  Every  thing  must  be  paid 
for.  Potatoes  and  principles  have  their  market  value. 
When  the  millennium  comes  we  may  hope  to  get 
things  for  love. 

The  path  that  I  laid  down  for  myself  in  this  chap 
ter  was  one  of  description,  and  I  have  wandered  some 
what.  I  return  to  the  "  Finger  Post"  in  the  parish 
of  St.  Anne.  The  district  through  which  I  have  been 
traveling  is  composed  entirely  of  pasture-land.  All 
the  settlers  own  a  horse  and  stock  of  some  kind. 
Their  cottages  are  very  neat  and  tidy,  and  are  shroud 
ed  with  cocoas  and  plantains.  Most  of  the  inferior 
ones  have  but  a  single  room.  The  pitch-pine  floor  is 
carefully  polished ;  a  bed  stands  in  one  corner,  or  it 
may  be  that  the  inhabitants  make  up  their  couches  at 
night  on  the  floor ;  a  table,  bearing  all  the  crockery 
of  the  establishment,  occupies  another  corner,  for  the 
mysteries  of  a  closet  are  unknown ;  there  are  no  glass 
windows,  but  blinds  placed  cunningly  for  purposes  of 
ventilation ;  there  may  be,  perhaps,  a  chair  and  anoth 
er  table  in  the  apartment,  and  the  table,  in  the  better 
class  of  huts,  is  sometimes  a  piece  of  fine  old  mahog- 


196      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

anj.  The  negroes  seldom  enter  their  huts  except 
when  they  retire  for  the  night.  They  congregate  at 
evening  outside  the  door,  and  do  all  their  cooking  in 
the  open  air.  Their  habits  of  life  are  singular  and 
very  irregular.  They  eat  when  they  are  hungry,  and 
seldom  sit  down  to  a  family  meal.  Hence  the  fright 
ful  mortality  among  them  during  cholera  visitations. 
In  the  better  class  of  cottages  I  have  invariably  found 
books — always  the  Bible,  and  not  unfrequently  the 
ponderous  works  of  one  William  Wilberforce,  the 
West  Indian's  demigod. 

Within  an  hour's  drive  from  the  "  Finger  Post"  the 
northern  limit  of  the  St.  Anne  plateau  is  reached.  A 
large  weather-worn  cotton-tree,  seen  from  afar,  is  the 
spot  whence  the  first  glimpse  of  the  ocean  can  be 
caught.  It  is  a  wonderful  picture.  The  road  can  be 
traced  winding  cautiously  round  the  hill-sides,  and 
descending  in  slow  graduations  till  it  is  lost  among 
the  specks  of  houses  on  the  beach.  But  the  precipice 
upon  which  we  stand,  and  along  whose  very  brink  the 
road  runs,  breaks  away  with  appalling  abruptness, 
and  exposes  to  view  a  valley  swept  out  between  a 
fork  of  mountains  to  the  sea.  The  valley  is  an  un- 
checkered  wood-land,  except  where  lingering  traces  of 
former  cultivation  can  be  detected,  and  where  splen 
did  cane-fields  cluster  round  the  distant  sea-port  of  St. 
Anne's.  The  road  descends  through  forests  of  pimen 
to,  through  groves  of  plantains  or  of  cocoas,  or  under 
archways  of  gigantic  bamboo ;  and  while  on  the  right 
we  get  occasional  views  of  the  valley  I  have  described, 
on  the  left  the  hills  grow  steep  and  steeper,  and  the 
trees  upon  their  sides,  entangled  and  knitted  together 
by  wild  vegetation,  draperied  with  vines  and  orna- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  197 

mented  with  the  most  splendid  parasites,  look  like  a 
torrent  of  foliage  rushing  down  from  the  mountain- 
top.  The  cottages  seen  on  this  long  descent  are  supe 
rior  to  those  on  the  southern  slope  of  the  hills.  They 
seem  to  improve  with  the  commencement  of  the  rich 
pasture-land  at  the  Moneague,  and  St.  Anne's  Bay,  on 
the  north  coast,  has  every  appearance  of  being  a  flour 
ishing  village.  Flourishing,  that  is,  for  Jamaica.  I 
can  not  compare  it  with  any  village  of  equal  size  in 
the  United  States  and  call  St.  Anne's  flourishing.  Per 
haps  I  ought  not  to  call  it  flourishing  at  all,  in  sight 
of  dismantled  wharves  and  other  indications  of  a  large 
trade  in  days  gone  by,  contrasted  now  by  the  pres 
ence  of  two  solitary  schooners,  from  whose  peaks  the 
American  ensign  droops  in  the  utter  stillness  of  every 
thing  around.  I  can  say,  however,  with  perfect  truth, 
that  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  St.  Anne's  Bay  there 
are  cane-lands  in  high  cultivation ;  that  the  houses  in 
the  village  are  neat  and  well  built ;  that  the  road,  or 
street,  as  it  should  be  called,  is  in  proper  repair ;  that 
shops  are  plentiful,  and  buying  and  selling  going  on 
at  a  fair  rate  for  a  village  of  a  thousand  inhabitants. 
Under  any  circumstances  St.  Anne's  is  a  proper  halt 
ing-place  for  a  tourist.  It  has  a  couple  of  inns,  and 
the  sugar-estates  in  the  neighborhood  are  at  least 
worth  visiting. 

We  have  now  reached  the  north  side  of  Jamaica, 
and  purpose  traveling  west  as  far  as  we  can.  From 
St.  Anne's  Bay  to  Dry  Harbor,  a  distance  of  seventeen 
miles,  the  hills  trend  along  the  coast,  leaving  between 
them  and  the  beach  a  spacious  and  well-cultivated 
slope.  For  seven  miles  west  of  St.  Anne's  Bay,  a  con 
tinued  succession  of  luxuriant  cane-pieces  will  be  pass- 


198      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ed.  They  are  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  and  have 
every  appearance  of  being  highly  cultivated.  The 
fences  are  of  stone  or  logwood,  and  are  well  kept  up. 
The  hills,  which,  for  the  most  part,  are  covered  with 
their  native  forest,  are  here  and  there  marked  with  pas 
ture,  and  with  the  peculiar  foliage  of  the  plantain  and 
the  cocoanut-tree ;  a  certain  sign,  even  where  a  hut  is 
invisible,  of  the  presence  of  settlers.  Passing  the  su 
gar-estates, -we  come  to  more  pens  and  pasturage,  then 
to  wood-land  and  to  denser  settlements.  The  cottages 
are  rudely  built,  but  clean.  I  entered  possibly  a  doz 
en  that  were  grouped  together.  They  were  in  charge 
of  one  old  woman.  The  girls  and  boys  were  away  at 
work ;  some  in  the  cane-fields,  some  on  the  roads,  and 
some  on  their  own  emplacements.  Quite  close  to  this 
group  of  cottages  stood  a  neat  little  Baptist  chapel, 
built  by  the  laborers  at  their  own  expense.  A  large 
majority  of  the  Jamaica  Creoles  dissent  from  the 
Church  of  England,  which  is  the  established  church 
in  the  West  India  colonies,  and  the  dissenters,  even  in 
sparsely  settled  districts,  are  not  slow  to  erect  their 
own  places  of  worship.  These  people,  who  live  com 
fortably  and  independently,  own  houses  and  stock, 
pay  taxes,  poll  votes,  and  build  churches,  are  the-  same 
people  whom  we  have  heard  represented  as  idle, 
worthless  fellows,  obstinately  opposed  to  work,  and 
ready  to  live  on  an  orange  or  banana  rather  than  earn 
their  daily  bread.  This  may  have  been  the  case  with 
those  originally  set  free,  before  they  comprehended 
their  responsibilities  as  freemen,  and  before  their  ex 
travagant  ideas  of  liberty  had  been  moderated  by  a 
necessary  experience.  But  now  that  intelligence  and 
experience  have  come  to  them,  the  West  Indian  ne- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  199 

groes  can  not  be  indiscriminately  thrown  aside  as  a 
people  who  will  not  work.  Since  emancipation  they 
have  passed  in  a  body  to  a  higher  civil  and  social  sta 
tus;  and  the  majority  of  them  are  too  much  their  own 
masters  ever  to  submit  again  to  the  mastership  of  oth 
ers.  They  can  not  be  blamed  for  this ;  and  any  un 
prejudiced  resident  of  Jamaica  will  indorse  the  state 
ment  here  made,  that  the  peasantry  are  as  peaceable 
and  industrious  a  people  as  may  be  found  in  the  same 
latitude  throughout  the  world.  The  present  genera 
tion  of  Jamaican  Creoles  are  no  more  to  be  likened 
to  their  slave  ancestors  than  the  intelligent  English 
laborer  of  the  nineteenth  century  can  be  likened  to 
the  serfs  of  Athelstane  or  Atheling. 

The  village  of  Dry  Harbor,  seventeen  miles  from 
St.  Anne's  Bay,  is  chiefly  inhabited  by  fishermen  and 
small  proprietors.  The  road  thence,  continuing  west, 
lies  over  a  mountain  densely  covered  with  orange  and 
pimento  trees.  As  we  are  leaving  St.  Anne's  parish, 
I  may  as  well  say  here  that  pimento  is  its  great  staple. 
Jamaica  possibly  supplies  two  thirds  of  the  pimento 
used  in  the  world ;  and  St.  Anne  supplies  two  thirds 
of  the  Jamaica  pimento.  It  is  easily  cultivated,  and 
is  said  to  be  best  sown  by  birds.  It  is,  however,  a 
precarious  crop.  In  1858  the  island  produced  nine 
and  a  half  millions  of  pounds,  and  in  1859  it  only  pro 
duced  four  and  a  half  millions.  The  decline  was  ow 
ing  to  no  lack  of  industry  or  enterprise,  but  simply,  to 
the  fact  that  the  season  was  a  bad  one.  It  is,  perhaps, 
worthy  of  remark  that  the  pimento  crop  of  1858  was 
the  largest  ever  reaped  in  the  island. 

St.  Anne's  is  considerably  the  largest  parish  in  Ja 
maica.  It  occupies  a  superficial  area  of  433  square 


200      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

miles.  The  population,  which  is  25,823,  gives  only 
59.63  persons  to  the  square  mile.  They  are  almost 
exclusively  pen  proprietors  and  small  settlers.  I  was 
charmed  with  every  part  of  the  parish  that  I  visited, 
with  its  fresh  look,  fertile  soil,  and  happy,  contented, 
and  independent  inhabitants;  and  I  certainly  thought 
that  if  all  Jamaica  was  like  St.  Anne's  there  would  be 
no  ground  for  the  commiseration  that  her  condition 
has  excited  in  Europe  and  America. 

The  Pimento  Mountain,  of  which  I  have  spoken, 
separates  Dry  Harbor  from  Eio  Bueno.  On  descend 
ing  the  western  slope,  the  stream  from  which  the  lat 
ter  village  takes  its  name  (and  which  is  the  boundary 
between  the  parishes  of  St.  Anne  and  Trelawny)  can 
be  seen  winding  through  the  valley  below.  It  rises 
from  a  spring  in  the  mountain  side,  falls  in  cascade, 
and  empties  itself  into  the  ocean,  as  a  Jamaican  river 
of  considerable  size,  a  few  miles  away.  The  village 
itself,  like  most  villages  in  the  island,  is  situated  in  a 
snug  little  bay.  A  vacant  hotel,  large  enough  to  ac 
commodate  fifty  guests,  well-built  stone  piers,  and  di 
lapidated,  tenantlcss  stores,  tell  the  old  story  of  past 
prosperity  and  present  decay.  The  harbor,  in  which 
a  dozen  ships  once  rode  at  anchor,  is  now  without  a 
solitary  sail,  and  but  two  or  three  inferior  vessels  come 
drifting  in  during  a  whole  year's  space.  There  are 
the  remains  here  of  an  old  fort,  in  a  position  to  sweep 
a  fleet  from  the  bay.  It  requires  some  ingenuity  to 
discover  the  spot,  for  rank  vegetation  entirely  conceals 
it.  The  ruin  possesses  historical  interest,  for  its  walls 
were  built  to  protect  the  flag  of  Spain ;  and  the  cannon 
that  stretch  their  rusty  throats  through  the  crumbling 
embrasures  were  planted  there  many  years  before  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  201 

United  States  were  a  nation  born.  Hence  the  Span 
ish  name,  yet  retained,  of  Kio  Bueno.  I  like  the  vil 
lage — a  quaint,  quiet  spot,  with  the  sea-breeze  blowing 
freshly  in.  Many  fishermen  live  here,  but  they  find, 
I  fancy,  a  bad  mart  even  for  the  best  of  mullets  and 
snappers.  A  fish  of  10  Ibs.  weight  must  be  sold  to 
ten  different  persons,  for  there  is  no  one,  except  per 
haps  the  doctor  or  the  parson,  rich  enough  to  buy 
such  a  monster  entire.  In  the  hotel  where  I  lodged 
the  landlord  migrated  in  search  of  a  candle  to  light 
up,  for  once  probably  in  six  months,  his  huge  recep 
tion-room,  which  still  looked  quite  grand  with  its 
polished  floor  and  pieces  of  old  mahogany.  Up  in 
the  crazy  room  where  I  slept  I  lay  upon  an  antique 
bed  in  the  company  of  lizards,  and  gazed  through  holes 
in  the  roof  upon  the  twinkling  stars.  Providentially 
it  did  not  rain. 

Between  Eio  Bueno  and  the  village  of  Duncan  I 
passed  through  a  magnificent  sugar-estate,  with  its 
buildings,  steam-mill,  and  private  wharf  in  good  re 
pair — altogether  as  fine  a  property  as  ever  I  saw  in 
the  favored  island  of  Barbados.  The  cane-fields  ex 
tended  over  hill  and  valley,  and  were  carefully  culti 
vated  and  finished  in  all  their  appurtenances.  There 
is  another  fine  estate  between  Duncan  and  the  town 
of  Falmouth,  and  many  pasture-lands,  large  and  small. 
I  continued  to  find  the  settlers,  without  exception,  at 
their  work.  I  met  them  in  troops  at  early  morning 
traveling  along  the  road,  every  man  and  woman  ready 
with  their  polite  greetings.  I  never  met  a  peasantry 
more  civil  or  more  ready  to  oblige.  Nine  out  of  ten 
of  the  settlers  rely  principally  upon  their  own  proper 
ties  for  the  support  of  themselves  and  their  families, 

12 


202      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

but  are  willing,  nevertheless,  to  work  for  the  estates 
or  on  the  roads  when  it  does  not  interfere  with  neces 
sary  labor  on  their  own  lands.  When  the  choice  lies 
between  the  roads  and  the  estates,  it  is  not  surprising 
that  they  should  select  the  employer  that  pays  best 
and  most  regularly.  I  do  not  mean  to  say  for  a  mo 
ment  that  the  estates  have  any  thing  like  a  sufficiency 
of  labor;  they  are  entirely  without  that  continuous 
labor  required,  not  merely  for  bare  cultivation,  but 
for  extension  and  improvement.  In  the  remarks  I 
have  here  made,  I  merely  wish  to  give  point-blank 
denial  to  a  very  general  impression  prevailing  abroad 
that  the  Jamaica  negro  will  not  work  at  all.  I  wish 
to  show  that  he  gives  as  much  labor,  even  to  the  sugar- 
estate,  as  he  consistently  can,  and  that  it  is  no  fault  of 
his  if  he  can  not  give  enough.  I  wish  to  exhibit  the 
people  of  Jamaica  as  a  peaceable,  law-abiding  peas 
antry,  with  whom  the  remembrance  of  past  wrongs 
has  had  so  little  weight  that,  from  the  day  of  emanci 
pation  until  now,  they  have  never  dreamt  of  a  hostile 
combination  cither  against  their  old  masters  or  the 
government  under  which  they  live,  though  insurrec 
tions  in  the  time  of  slavery  were  numerous  and  terri 
ble,  and  were  only  suppressed  after  much  bloodshed 
and  lavish  expenditure.  I  wish  to  bear  witness  to 
their  courtesy.  When  I  had  occasion  to  ask  for  co- 
coanuts  or  oranges  on  the  way-side,  the  settler  gen 
erally  refused  payment  for  the  fruit ;  and  if  he  finally 
took  the  money  pressed  upon  him,  it  was  with  the 
understanding,  distinctly  expressed,  that  he  wanted 
no  payment  for  rendering  so  simple  a  service.  I 
speak  exclusively  of  the  peasantry,  not  of  the  dis 
solute  idlers,  loafers,  and  vagabonds  that  congregate 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  203 

in  Kingston  and  other  towns.  They  are  as  different 
from  their  country  brethren  as  the  New  York  rowdy 
is  different  from  the  honest  farmer  in  his  home  in  Ni 
agara  or  St.  Lawrence.  That  the  Jamaica  peasantry 
have  grave  faults  of  character  and  grave  defects,  which 
it  will  take  long  years  of  training  to  remove,  I  do  not 
doubt.  It  will  be  a  part  of  my  task  to  expose  their 
vices ;  but  this  is  no  reason  why  they  should  be  de 
nied  the  possession  of  any  virtues. 


20-i      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  XXI. 

A    TOUR    CONTINUED. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1 860. 

HAVING  entered  the  parish  of  Trelawny,  it  is  prop 
er  that  I  should  take  the  reader  to  Falmouth,  its  chief 
town,  which  contains  a  population  of  seven  or  eight 
thousand.  The  town  looks  more  modern  than  Kings 
ton  ;  the  houses  are  well  built,  and,  being  the  principal 
sea-port  of  the  largest  sugar-parish  in  the  island,  the 
harbor,  during  crop-season,  is  sometimes  thronged  with 
vessels.  Falmouth  is  surrounded  by  a  morass,  and 
would  undoubtedly  be  a  most  unhealthy  spot  if  it 
were  not  favored  by  unremitting  sea-breezes  that  bear 
away  the  malaria.  I  have  been  told  that  during  the 
terrible  visitation  of  cholera,  from  which  and  small 
pox  combined  thirty  thousand  persons  are  supposed 
to  have  died,  Falmouth  suffered  less  than  any  town 
of  its  size  on  the  island.  It  is  on  the  faith  of  this,  I 
suppose,  that  the  authorities  neglect  the  most  ordina 
ry  rules  of  health,  give  the  people  bad  water  to  drink, 
and  allow  the  drainage  to  stagnate  in  the  streets — suf 
ficient  to  breed  a  pestilence  in  a  much  more  favored 
locality.  Next  to  Kingston,  which  carries  off  the 
palm,  Falmouth  is  the  filthiest  town  in  Jamaica.  Re 
port  says  that  when  the  penitentiary  convicts  worked 
on  the  streets  they  were  kept  in  much  better  order, 
but  now  that  the  labor  must  be  paid  for,  it  is  neglect- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  205 

ed.  Want  of  money  is  certainly  epidemic  in  Jamaica. 
No  Creole  seems  to  possess  the  commodity,  and  stran 
gers  who  are  believed  to  possess  it  are  made  to  pay 
for  the  general  deficiency.  If  a  traveler  appears  in 
the  streets  of  Falmouth,  an  inn-keeper  will  run  after 
him,  bag  him,  and  make  the  most  of  him,  for  such 
game  only  branches  here  once  in  a  season. 

Besides  want  of  money  in  Jamaica,  there  is  a  de 
plorable  want  of  economy  and  want  of  ingenuity  to 
turn  things  to  the  best  account.  Prison  discipline  is  a 
farce,  and  a  sentence  to  hard  labor  perfect  moon 
shine.  I  have  seen  these  "hard-labor  convicts"  mov 
ing  along  the  roads  in  gangs  at  a  funeral  pace,  and 
looking  for  all  the  world  as  though  they  were  hunt 
ing  up  cockroaches.  They  are  allowed  to  stop  and 
talk  to  girls,  and  amuse  themselves  in  any  manner 
they  like.  There  is  no  fear  of  their  escaping.  Many 
of  the  dissipated  scamps  about  town  actually  steal  in 
order  to  get  into  the  penitentiary,  they  are  so  well 
treated  there.  They  have  good  food,  their  bath,  and 
easy  exercise  every  day.  No  disgrace  is  attached  to 
a  residence  in  the  penitentiary.  The  convict,  when 
released,  laughs  over  his  imprisonment  and  boasts  of 
his  good  fare.  He  does  not  consider  that  imprison 
ment  a  bar  to  future  employment,  or  any  reason  why 
he  should  not  be  trusted  again.  I  can  say,  from  my 
own  personal  knowledge,  that  a  man  who  had  served 
his  time  in  the  penitentiary  attempted  to  breakfast  at 
the  public  table  of  a  hotel  in  which  I  lodged.  Lucki 
ly  there  was  a  judge  present  who  knew  the  fellow, 
and  the  guests  were  spared  the  risk  of  having  their 
pockets  picked  and  the  landlady  the  certainty  of  hav 
ing  her  spoons  abstracted.  That  I  may  not  be  thought 


206      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

exaggerating,  I  refer  to  an  article  in  the  Colonial  Stand' 
ard  of  the  13th  of  December  last,  where  the  writer 
calls  the  island  penitentiary  a  "  house  of  sumptuous 
living,  amusement,  and  sport."  "  No  bread,  no  beef," 
say  the  convicts,  "are  equal  to  that  which  may  be 
had  there."  A  man,  after  twelve  months'  residence 
in  the  penitentiary,  grows  fat  and  sleek,  and  often  ex 
presses  regret  when  his  term  of  imprisonment  expires. 
The  writer  of  the  article  in  question  furnishes  an  il 
lustration  of  the  "hard  labor"  of  two  prisoners  under 
sentence  for  felony ;  one  had  to  knead  bread,  and  the 
other  to  polish  the  keeper's  boots !  This  is  penal  labor 
in  Jamaica.  The  wretched  management  here  display 
ed  does  not  need  pointing  out.  The  people  are  taxed 
for  repairing  the  roads  some  six  hundred  dollars  a 
mile — a  sum  that  might  be  altogether  saved  by  mak 
ing  the  convicts  do  the  work.  They  are  also  taxed 
to  support  criminals  who  do  little  or  nothing  for  their 
own  maintenance.  Here  is  "payment  at  both  ends" 
with  a  vengeance.  And  worse  than  that,  a  premium 
of  good  lodgings  and  an  easy  life  is  offered  to  the  idle 
and  dissolute  to  commit  crime.  The  evil  effect  of 
such  a  system  upon  the  community  is  incalculable. 
Public  morality  as  well  as  the  public  purse  inevitably 
suffers. 

I  dislike  excessively  the  sea-port  towns  of  Jamaica, 
and  can  make  no  exception  in  favor  of  Falmouth. 
All  the  worst  fellows  in  the  island  collect  in  them, 
and  give  to  foreigners  a  most  mistaken  idea  of  the 
country  people.  Those  who  are  not  bad  soon  become 
so  by  the  force  of  an  example  that  English  and  Amer 
ican  sailors  in  port  are  not  slow  to  set.  Though  I 
think  that,  morally  considered,  the  negroes  who  con- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  207 

gregate  about  the  wharves  are  the  very  worst  class  to 
be  encountered,  yet  I  have  seen  them  in  Kingston, 
Falmouth,  and  other  ports,  work  like  very  horses  in 
the  loading  and  unloading  of  vessels.  They  are  usu 
ally  paid  by  the  job.  I  do  not  doubt  that  many  pro- 
prieters  really  suffer  from  the  partiality  of  young  men 
to  towns ;  but  at  the  same  time  I  do  not  doubt  that 
many  of  these  young  men  prefer,  and  very  naturally 
prefer,  the  greater  certainty  of  regular  payment  that 
town  business  offers.  I  know  of  waiters  in  hotels 
who  get  only  a  dollar  a  week  and  have  to  find  them 
selves;  and  it  is  not  rational  to  suppose  that  they 
would  flock  to  Kingston  or  Falmouth  if  they  had  to 
work  there  at  a  pecuniary  disadvantage. 

While  on  the  subject  of  town  labor,  I  have  some 
thing  to  say  about  the  conduct  of  American  ship-cap 
tains  who  trade  at  West  Indian  ports ;  and  what  I  have 
to  say  is  not  much  to  their  credit.  The  American 
captain  seems  to  think  it  his  special  privilege  to  treat 
the  Jamaica  negroes  in  his  employ  far  worse  than  he 
dare  treat  slaves  in  southern  ports  of  his  own  country. 
It  is  too  common  to  hear  one  of  these  bullies  accost  a 
man  with  "You  d — d  nigger,  if  I  had  you  in  New 
Orleans  I'd  sell  you,"  and  so  forth.  The  negro,  who 
is  exceedingly  sensitive  about  his  freedom,  passes  off 
the  remark  very  often  as  a  joke,  for  he  is  at  work  on 
the  vessel,  and  does  not  like  to  lose  his  job.  But  the 
feeling  here,  and  in  all  the  British  West  Indies,  against 
America  and  the  Americans,  owing  to  just  such  bad 
taste  and  brutality,  is  bitter  in  the  extreme.  I  have  met 
intelligent  mulattoes — men  well  educated  too — who 
have  expressed  a  wish  to  go  to  New  York,  and  have 
given  utterance  to  genuine  fears  that  if  they  did  so 


208      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

they  might  be  sold  into  slavery.  If  a  town  loafer  has 
a  dispute  with  his  neighbor,  his  bitterest  abuse  is  to 
tell  him  what  his  market  value  would  be  in  Charles 
ton,  New  Orleans,  or  Jacksonville — with  which  last 
place  they  all  seem  wonderfully  familiar. 

Falmouth,  from  which  respectable  town  I  have 
somewhat  digressed,  is,  as  I  have  said,  the  capital  of 
the  largest  sugar-exporting  parish  in  the  island.  I 
have  seen  many  of  the  estates,  and  should  judge  them 
all  to  be  in  a  condition  of  paying  cultivation.  They 
extend  for  fifteen  or  sixteen  miles  round  the  town. 
Some  properties,  formerly  cultivated  in  sugar,  but  now 
converted  into  breeding-pens  and  pasturage-grounds, 
lie  farther  back.  I  know  of  no  estates  in  the  parish 
that  have  been  wholly  abandoned,  though  there  may 
be  a  very  few.  Trelawny  offers  some  curious  facts 
in  connection  with  the  growth  of  sugar.  The  land 
here  is  notoriously  poorer  for  growing  provisions  than 
it  is  in  districts  where  the  cultivation  of  the  cane  has 
been  altogether  abandoned.  The  parishes  of  St.  Mary, 
Metcalf,  and  St.  George,  round  Annotto  Bay,  on  the 
north  coast,  are  examples  of  splendid  soil,  formerly 
cultivated  in  sugar,  but  now  almost  wholly  abandon 
ed,  or  yielded  to  small  settlers.  Trelawny,  on  the 
contrary,  continues  to  export  largely.  The  success  of 
Trelawny  may  be  partly  owing  to  the  fact  that  the 
negroes  can  not  grow  provisions  to  advantage.  But 
this  is  not  a  complete  explanation  of  its  success.  It 
certainly  can  not  be  explained  by  population  statis 
tics,  for  the  agricultural  force  of  Trelawny  is  consid 
erably  weaker  than  that  of  two  of  the  other  parishes 
named.  Leaving  out  the  town  of  Falmouth,  it  will  be 
found  that  the  population  in  the  country  districts  fur- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  209 

nishes  only  75  persons  to  the  square  mile,  while  some 
parishes,  in  which  sugar  cultivation  has  been  given 
up,  have  80,  90,  100,  and  even  120  persons  to  the 
square  mile.  If,  then,  Trelawny,  with  a  comparative 
ly  poor  soil  and  a  population  of  75  to  the  square  mile, 
retains  the  cultivation  of  the  cane,  why  has  not  Met- 
calf  done  the  same  (I  take  the  parish  at  random),  with 
its  rich  soil  and  population  of  110  to  the  square  mile? 
It  can  not  be  said  that  the  planters  of  Trelawny  had 
more  capital,  were  more  prudent,  or  were  better  man 
agers  than  others;  but  it  can  be  said  that  the  roads 
have  been  kept  in  much  better  condition  than  those  of 
St.  Mary,  Metcalf,  and  St.  George.  Bad  roads,  in  some 
places  impassable  roads,  have  helped  not  a  little  to 
diminish  cane  cultivation.  The  conveyance  to  port 
of  hogsheads  weighing  18  and  20  cwt.  has  always 
been  one  of  the  planter's  most  serious  items  of  ex 
penditure;  and  he  has  not  now  the  means  necessary 
to  supply  the  constant  drain  upon  his  stock  caused  by 
bad  roads,  nor  the  capital  or  the  credit  to  build  tram 
ways  that  would  pay  their  own  expenses  in  twenty 
years'  time.  The  estates  around  Falmouth  have  a 
comparatively  easy  access  to  the  port  of  embarka 
tion  ;  but  on  distant  estates,  where  access  is  both  dif 
ficult  and  expensive,  the  cultivation  of  the  cane  has 
been  generally  abandoned,  and  this  is  the  case  over 
the  whole  island.  Moreover,  where  the  land  is  rich, 
the  negro  is  always  more  independent  and  more 
ready  and  eager  to  buy  than  where  it  is  poor.  Thus, 
again,  we  have  another  cause,  besides  the  bare  want 
of  labor,  for  the  depression  of  Jamaican  commerce 
in  consequence  of  the  abandonment  of  sugar  cultiva 
tion. 


210      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

It  is  a  long  drive  from  Falmouth  to  Montego  Bay, 
the  principal  town  in  the  adjoining  parish  of  St. 
James.  The  road  lies  over  a  sandy  beach,  and  is  ex 
posed  to  the  burning  heat  of  the  sun.  Comparatively 
few  settlers  are  to  be  met  with. 

At  "  Little  Kiver,"  half  way  between  Falmouth  and 
Montego  Bay,  there  is  a  road-side  inn.  I  thanked  the 
gods  for  the  same,  and  for  the  opportunity  of  escaping 
for  an  hour  the  blazing  midday  sun.  The  breeze 
here  came  up  freshly  from  the  sea.  After  leaving 
this  halting-place,  we  passed  through  some  splendid 
specimens  of  Trelawny  sugar  cultivation,  but  the 
estates  end  with  the  boundary  -  line  of  the  parish. 
Wood-land  then ;  after  which,  having  veered  round 
the  butt  of  a  hill,  we  obtain  a  full  view  of  Montego 
Bay  and  its  shipping — to  wit,  three  vessels.  We  en 
ter  the  town  between  a  race-course  on  the  one  hand 
and  a  burial-ground  on  the  other — both  overgrown 
with  weeds ;  we  pass  in  the  shadow  of  a  crumbling 
fort  and  along  a  crooked  street,  ornamented  with  per 
fect  models  of  West  India  houses  in  the  last  stage  of 
dilapidation.  Leaning  like  so  many  Pisa  towers,  they, 
nevertheless,  do  not  fall,  and  we  reach  the  square  and 
the  lodging-house  in  safety. 

They  had  a  wonderful  eye,  those  old  Spaniards,  for 
a  good  site,  as  all  the  towns  they  ever  planted,  both  in 
the  Indies  and  on  the  Main,  fully  testify.  The  town 
of  Montego  Bay,  in  point  of  population  and  size  the 
second  in  Jamaica,  is  no  exception  to  the  rule.  It 
sleeps  at  the  extremity  of  an  elliptical  bay,  sheltered 
from  storms  by  an  amphitheatre  of  mountains,  and 
waiting  apparently  for  the  last  trump  to  awaken  it. 
The  dreaminess  of  the  place  is  contagious.  You  can 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  211 

not  look  upon  its  quaint  old  houses,  or  upon  its  peo 
ple  moving  at  a  snail's  pace,  and  feel  any  thing  ap 
proaching  to  activity.  A  sight  of  the  blue  waters  of 
the  bay,  rippled  by  the  gentlest  of  breezes,  or  of  a 
panorama  of  mountains  on  the  left,  that  stretch  away 
to  the  misty  point  upon  which  the  town  of  Lucea 
stands,  aggravates  indolence,  and  converts  it  into  an 
uncompromising  laziness.  The  town  has  still  a  Span 
ish  look  about  it,  in  spite  of  the  lapse  of  two  centuries 
since  Spaniards  were  its  masters.  It  wears  a  smile  of 
contempt  for  the  frowns  of  fortune  and  the  cessation 
of  a  once  flourishing  commerce.  It  is  the  chosen  re 
treat  of  a  remnant  of  the  old  plantocracy,  and  their 
residences,  if  antique,  are  always  picturesque,  and 
somewhat  symbolic  of  Jamaica's  actual  condition. 
Lo!  an  ancient  tenement  half  buried  in  luxuriant 
shrub :  decay,  which  is  of  man,  and  the  most  vigorous 
kind  of  life,  which  is  not  of  man,  progressing  side  by 
side.  I  admit  that  Montego  Bay  quite  charmed  me 
with  its  clean  streets,  neat  little  patches  of  garden  and 
utter  quietude,  with  its  air  of  by -gone  respectability, 
and  the  cool  complacency  of  its  people,  who  did  not 
know  or  care  how  they  lived  from  day  to  day. 
"Well,  massa,  we  do  de  best  we  can  in  dese  times," 
was  all  the  answer  I  got  to  repeated  inquiries  for  a  so 
lution  of  the  mystery  of  life  in  Montego  Bay.  I  have 
not  yet  discovered  how  10,000  people  manage  to  ex 
ist  on  the  trade  of  the  five  or  six  vessels  which  annu 
ally  enter  the  bay  from  European  or  American  ports. 
They  certainly  make  little  out  of  travelers,  for  a  stran 
ger  in  Montego  Bay  is  so  rare  a  sight  that  he  will  cre 
ate  as  violent  an  agitation  among  its  inhabitants  as  a 
wild  elephant,  careering  among  omnibuses,  might  be 


212      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

expected  to  excite  in  the  minds  of  Broadway  pedes 
trians.  The  people  here,  that  is,  those  of  the  laboring 
class  with  whom  I  conversed,  say  that  the  planters 
of  the  parish  will  not  pay  or  can  not  pay  for  labor. 
They  complain  that  a  great  many  of  the  old  estates 
have  been  sold  to  Jews,  who  are  too  close  to  do  jus 
tice  to  their  workmen.  I  do  not  give  this  as  a  fact 
within  my  own  knowledge,  but  simply  as  a  report 
credited  by  the  laboring  people  of  the  parish  of  St. 
James.  Many  people  in  the  town  complain  of  not  be 
ing  able  to  get  work.  St.  James  has  not  half  the  num 
ber  of  sugar-properties  in  cultivation  that  Trelawny 
has,  and  possessing  as  large  a  population  to  the  square 
mile,  it  ought  not  to  be  worse  off  for  labor  than  the 
neigboring  parish. 

The  road  from  Montego  Bay  to  Lucea,  in  Hanover 
parish,  follows  the  line  of  beach,  and  is  winding,  hilly, 
and  irregular.  There  is  little  to  see  but  forest,  and 
some  few  sugar-estates.  I  speak  of  the  northern  slope 
of  the  hills  which  trend  along  the  coast.  On  their 
southern  side,  a  district  which  I  did  not  penetrate,  I 
was  told  that  sugar  cultivation  was  rare,  but  that 
small  settlements  and  provision-grounds  were  plenti 
ful.  The  pleasantest  mode  of  traveling  from  Monte- 
go  Bay  to  Lucea  is  by  water.  I  left  with  a  steers 
man  and  two  oars,  and  we  accomplished  the  distance 
(about  20  miles)  in  less  than  four  hours.  When  it  is 
remembered  that  this  labor  was  performed  at  high 
noon,  that  the  men  engaged  in  it  never  flagged  for  an 
instant,  and  that  it  was  no  extraordinary  job  for  which 
they  had  been  offered  an  extraordinary  inducement, 
but  a  part  of  their  ordinary  every-day  work,  I  deem 
it  no  light  testimony  in  favor  of  the  negro's  power  to 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  213 

work,  and  will  to  work,  when  he  is  properly  paid. 
These  men  who  row  their  boat  to  Lucea  and  back  to 
Montego  Bay  within  the  twenty -four  hours — an  effort 
that  white  men  could  not  undertake  in  such  a  climate 
— receive  about  a  dollar  each  for  the  trip ;  but  they 
do  not  get  passengers  every  day.  They  are  generally 
professional  pilots,  and  their  receipts  from  the  six  or 
eight  vessels  that  enter  port  during  the  year  must  be 
very  small. 

Lucea  is  an  unclean,  ragged-looking  village,  without 
two  houses  conjoined,  and  without  one  house  in  de 
cent  repair.  Its  population  must  be  about  1500  or 
2000.  The  road  thence  to  Green  Island,  and  round 
the  western  extremity  of  Jamaica  as  far  as  Savanna- 
la-Mar,  on  the  south  side,  is  execrable,  and  passes 
through  the  wildest  country  that  I  saw.  It  took  me 
twelve  hours  to  accomplish  fifty  miles.  I  seldom  got 
the  horses  out  of  a  walk.  Sometimes  wading  in  mud, 
sometimes  steering  among  huge  rocks,  sometimes 
swimming  over  rivers.  If  it  is  thus  in  the  dry  season, 
what  must  it  be  in  the  wet?  The  people  on  the  route 
look  as  wild  as  the  aspect  of  their  country.  They 
run  away  from  a  stranger,  or  glare  at  him  half  in  ter 
ror,  half  in  curiosity,  from  behind  a  bush. 

Immediately  after  leaving  Lucea  some  fine  sugar- 
estates  are  passed,  but  they  soon  give  way  to  dense 
woods,  and  low,  swampy  lands,  where  few  settlers, 
even,  have  cast  their  lot.  The  country  breaks  into 
cultivation  round  the  village  of  Green  Island — the 
western  ultima  thule  of  Jamaica — where  there  are  a 
few  sugar-properties.  I  was  told  here  that  the  estates 
still  being  worked  in  the  parish  of  Hanover  were  do 
ing  well,  and  that  those  abandoned  had  been  given 


214      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

up  for  want  of  means  to  carry  them  on.  An  intelli 
gent  resident  of  Green  Island,  himself  a  proprietor,  in 
formed  me  that  he  knew  of  no  estate  in  Hanover 
whose  owner,  possessed  of  capital,  or  even  out  of  debt, 
had  been  compelled  from  mere  want  of  labor  to  aban 
don  sugar  cultivation.  When  I  have  put  the  same 
question  to  any  respectable  landholder  in  any  part  of 
the  island,  I  have,  in  nine  cases  out  of  ten,  received 
the  same  answer.  The  want  of  continued  or  contract 
labor  is  generally  deplored  as  a  great  evil ;  but  it  is 
wrong  to  suppose  that  that  want  alone  has  ever  com 
pelled  resident  proprietors  to  abandon  their  estates  to 
ruin.  I  have  no  doubt  that  there  are  districts  where 
the  price  of  labor  is  too  high  to  make  sugar  cultiva 
tion  as  profitable  as  the  cultivation  of  other  produce — 
where  the  negroes,  in  fact,  are  too  well  off  and  too  in 
dependent  to  work  for  the  wages  they  are  compelled 
to  take  in  Barbados;  but  this  is  no  justification  for 
the  assertion,  so  widely  made  and  so  generally  be 
lieved,  that  they  will  not  work  at  all.  From  all  that 
I  learned  in  the  parish  of  Hanover,  I  came  to  the  con 
clusion  that  the  settlers  would  work  very  readily  if 
work  was  proffered  them  at  a  fair  remuneration. 

We  have  now  traveled  as  far  west  as  it  is  possible 
to  travel  on  the  north  side  of  Jamaica.  I  propose  to 
bring  the  reader  back  to  Kingston,  in  my  next  chap 
ter,  by  the  south  side. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  215 


CHAPTER  XXII. 

A  TOUR  CONTINUED. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

To  the  south  side  of  Jamaica,  its  original  Indian 
name  of  Xaymaca,  a  land  of  wood  and  water,  is  more 
strictly  applicable.  For  while  on  the  north  side  wood 
is  plentiful  enough,  the  south  side,  equally  luxuriant 
in  forest,  is  watered  by  a  hundred  streams. 

"Westmoreland  is  the  most  southwesterly,  as  Han 
over  is  the  most  northwesterly  parish  in  the  island. 
In  the  former  sugar  is  largely  cultivated,  and  from  its 
chief  town,  Savanna-la-Mar,  the  export  of  the  great 
staple  is  still  very  considerable.  On  the  route  from 
Green  Island  I  passed  some  very  fine  sugar-estates, 
and  not  a  few  properties  of  small  settlers  cultivated 
in  cane.  But  the  roads  are  abominable,  and  the  ex 
pense  of  transporting  heavy  hogsheads  from  this  dis 
trict  to  the  place  of  export  must  swallow  up  a  large 
portion  of  the  planter's  revenue.  Still,  Westmore 
land  keeps  up  its  reputation  as  a  leading  sugar-parish 
in  spite  of  a  scanty  population  that  numbers  only 
seventy -nine  persons  to  the  square  mile.  The  soil  is 
excellent  for  the  growth  of  the  cane ;  and  some  of  the 
largest  and  most  successful  planters,  since  emancipa 
tion,  have  their  estates  in  the  vicinity  of  Savanna-la- 
Mar. 

The  town  of  Savanna-la-Mar,  as  its  name  indicates, 


216      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

is  built  on  a  large  morass  that  stretches  seaward.  The 
Creoles  call  it  a  healthy  place,  and  I  do  not  know 
that  it  is  otherwise ;  but  it  ought  to  be  unhealthy.  A 
breeze  is  ever  blowing  from  the  shore,  and  this  per 
haps  keeps  the  savanna  free  from  fevers.  I  liked 
the  look  of  the  town,  with  its  broad  central  -street,  and 
piers  kept  tolerably  clean,  and  houses  peeping  from 
among  forests  of  cocoanut-trees.  Crop-time  was  at 
hand,  and  a  couple  of  vessels  in  the  bay,  forerunners 
of  the  fleet  that  annually  visit  Savanna-la-Mar,  were 
waiting  for  their  cargoes  of  sugar. 

It  was  Christmas-eve — a  season  at  which  the  West 
Indian  negro  goes  wild  with  excitement.  Old  drums, 
trumpets,  kettles,  bells,  and  any  thing  that  can  make 
a  noise,  are  brought  out ;  dancers  dance  violently,  and 
fiddlers  fiddle  violently,  without  any  regard  to  time  or 
tune ;  and  masquerading  and  psalm-singing  are  alter 
nately  kept  up  until  New-year's  day  is  fairly  past. 
No  negro  will  work  for  love  or  money  during  this 
carnival  time.  He  is  literally  elemented,  and  can 
hardly  give  a  sane  answer  to  the  most  ordinary  ques 
tion.  All  night  long,  and  for  eight  successive  nights, 
an  infernal  din — a  concert  of  cracked  drums,  shrill 
voices,  and  fire-crackers — is  maintained.  Those  poor 
devils  who  can  not  enjoy  this  species  of  amusement 
suffer  the  most  exquisite  torture.  I  passed  the  whole 
season  in  the  country,  and  saw  exhibitions  of  excite 
ment  that  made  me  think  the  actors  fit  subjects  for  a 
lunatic  asylum ;  but,  though  I  mixed  freely  among 
the  people,  I  was  always  most  civilly  treated,  and 
never  on  any  of  these  occasions  did  I  see  a  negro  in 
a  state  of  intoxication.  I  do  not  remember  having 
ever  seen  a  West  Indian  negro  drunk ;  and  the  tern- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  217 

perate  habits  of  the  Jamaica  Creoles  are  the  more  re 
markable,  as  the  spirit  manufactured  in  the  island  can 
be  obtained  for  a  very  trifling  cost. 

I  allude  to  these  Christmas  festivities  because  they 
afforded  me  an  opportunity  to  see  the  people  in  their 
holiday  time,  when,  if  ever,  they  would  be  disposed  to 
be  as  saucy  and  insolent  as  I  have  heard  them  char 
acterized.  I  found  them  nothing  of  the  kind.  The 
accusation  may  be  true  as  regards  Kingston  loafers, 
who  hang  about  the  wharves  for  chance  jobs,  and  fol 
low  strangers  with  annoying  persistency;  but  it  is 
not  true  when  applied  to  the  peasantry.  The  people 
are  no  longer  servile,  though  they  retain,  from  habit, 
the  servile  epithet  of  "Massa,"  when  addressing  the 
whites ;  but  I  have  ever  seen  them  most  respectful  to 
their  superiors,  and  most  anxious  to  oblige,  when  they 
are  treated  as  men,  and  not  as  slaves  or  brute  beasts. 
Individual  testimony  on  this  point  might  be  discredit 
ed  or  deemed  insufficient,  but  there  is  no  discrediting 
the  fact  that,  since  their  freedom,  no  people  in  the 
world  have  been  more  peaceful  than  the  Creoles  of 
Jamaica.  They  seem  to  have  forgotten  all  ancient 
grievances,  and  never  to  have  entertained  a  thought 
of  retribution.  The  contrast  in  this  respect  between 
the  reign  of  freedom  and  the  reign  of  slavery  carries 
its  own  lesson  and  its  own  warning.  Twenty-five 
years  of  freedom,  and  not  a  murmur  of  popular  dis 
content  !  Twenty -five  years  of  slavery — I  take  any 
period — and  what  fears  and  anxieties  and  actual  out 
breaks  !  It  cost  the  government  $800,000  to  suppress 
the  single  insurrection  of  1832,  during  which  private 
property  to  the  value  of  $6,000,000  was  destroyed. 
But  the  outbreak  from  which  the  planters  then  suffer- 

K 


218      THE  OBDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ed  would  have  been  light  compared  with  the  one  that 
was  ready  to  burst  over  the  island  when  liberty  ap 
peared  in  the  gap  and  brought  them  salvation. 

I  have  also  heard  the  Jamaica  people  denounced 
for  making  Christmas,  instead  of  the  anniversary  of 
emancipation,  their  great  gala  season  of  festivity.  It 
is  argued  that  they  can  care  little  for  the  boon  of  free 
dom  if  they  do  not  keep  it  in  remembrance,  or  regard 
it  as  a  fit  opportunity  for  national  rejoicings.  But  I 
do  not  think  that  the  absence  of  any  general  enthusi 
asm  in  the  West  India  islands  on  the  first  of  August 
demonstrates  at  all  that  the  people  fail  to  appreciate 
the  blessings  of  freedom.  Any  one  acquainted  with 
these  colonies  knows  that  the  reverse  is  the  case. 
Negroes,  very  like  other  people,  are  creatures  of  hab 
it,  and  in  their  Christmas  festivities  they  keep  up  the 
customs  that  they  were  taught  to  observe.  They 
have  a  week's  holiday,  and  they  make  the  most  of  it, 
according  to  their  noisy  fashion.  Probably  they  do 
not  reflect  on  the  great  event  that  the  season  is  de 
signed  to  commemorate,  any  more  than  civilized  peo 
ple  do  who  drink  Champagne  and  eat  roast  turkeys. 

It  is  a  hot  drive,  along  a  beach  road,  from  Savanna- 
la-Mar  to  Black  Kiver.  The  country  is  covered  part 
ly  with  forest,  and  partly  with  pens  and  pasture-land. 
There  is  an  abundance  of  pimento  and  orange  trees. 
American  schooners  very  often  come  to  the  bays  along 
this  coast,  and  load  with  oranges  and  other  fruit.  I 
did  not  notice  a  single  sugar-estate  on  the  way.  The 
houses  of  small  settlers  are  also,  comparatively  speak 
ing,  scarce,  until  a  more  open  country  in  the  adjoin 
ing  parish  of  St.  Elizabeth  is  reached.  The  hills  in 
the  distance  are  covered  with  dense  forest,  but  are 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  219 

nevertheless  inhabited  by  small  proprietors,  who  grow 
their  own  coffee  and  pimento  for  the  Black  Kiver 
market. 

The  town  of  Black  Eiver  is  situated  in  a  deep  bay, 
looking  out  upon  the  setting  sun,  and  back  upon  lofty 
ranges  of  hills.  For  a  place  that  can  not  number 
more  than  2000  inhabitants,  it  is  doing  a  thriving 
business,  though  the  parish,  of  which  it  is  the  only  out 
let,  is  by  no  means  a  first-class  sugar-growing  district. 
There  are  few  estates  in  St.  Elizabeth,  and,  I  think, 
only  two  that  transport  their  sugar  by  the  roads. 
The  remainder  send  their  produce  down  the  river, 
which,  at  a  little  expense,  might  be  made  navigable 
for  boats  for  a  distance  of  forty  miles.  A  more  fertile 
district,  or  more  splendid  soil  for  the  cultivation  of 
every  article  of  tropical  growth,  can  scarcely  be  imag 
ined  than  this  portion  of  the  parish  of  St.  Elizabeth, 
and  a  conveyance  by  water  is  not  the  least  of  its 
many  advantages  for  the  cultivation  of  the  cane.  It 
has  been  aptly  called  the  Demerara  of  Jamaica,  and 
vegetation  here  is  indeed  quite  as  luxuriant  as  it  is  in 
that  wonderful  colony.  But  Jamaica's  curse — want 
of  capital — is  upon  the  rich  alluvial  soil  and  easy 
communication  of  the  Black  Eiver  country.  The  for 
ests  remain  uncleared,  and  sand  and  mud  are  allowed 
to  choke  up  the  river  channel.  Yet,  in  spite  of  great 
natural  advantages  neglected  and  thrown  away,  the 
richness  of  this  district  is  not  altogether  hidden  from 
view,  nor  are  its  resources  entirely  wasted.  The  trade 
of  Black  Kiver  is  principally  in  coffee,  pimento,  and 
different  kinds  of  wood.  Some  forty  or  fifty  vessels 
arrive  in  port  during  the  year,  and  many  American 
schooners  come  here  for  return  cargoes.  I  was  told 


220      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

that  about  a  hundred  tons  of  logwood,  fustic, "and 
ebony  are  daily  moved  in  the  Black  Eiver  market. 
The  coffee  is  excellent,  and  is  raised,  without  an  ex 
ception,  by  small  proprietors. 

The  decline  in  the  exportation  of  coffee  is  a  great 
argument  in  the  mouths  of  those  who  urge  the  neces 
sity  of  large  accessions  to  the  laboring  population  of 
the  island.  But  I  can  not  see  the  force  of  the  argu 
ment,  for  the  cultivation  of  coffee  does  not  demand 
any  thing  like  the  labor  required  in  the  cultivation 
of  the  cane.  It  is  an  undoubted  fact,  that  the  expor 
tation  of  coffee  has  declined  from  twenty-five  and 
thirty  millions  of  pounds  to  five  and  six  millions;  but 
the  exhaustion  of  Jamaica  coffee-land  will  almost  ac 
count  for  the  deterioration.  It  must  also  be  remem 
bered  that  where  one  pound  was  used  in  the  island 
prior  to  emancipation  ten  pounds  are  used  now. 
What  master  would  ever  have  dreamed  of  giving 
coffee  to  his  slaves?  What  settler  nowadays  would 
dream  of  depriving  himself  of  his  tasse  de  consolation  ? 
I  never  yet  passed  a  settler's  emplacement  in  the 
mountainous  districts  of  Jamaica  that  I  did  not  see 
coffee  in  cultivation;  and  it  is  my  firm  conviction 
that  there  is  no  such  great  discrepancy  between  the 
amount  grown  now  and  that  grown  at  the  time  of 
emancipation.  The  same  statement  will  apply,  with 
much  greater  force,  to  provisions  of  every  description. 
It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  most  of  the  large  coffee 
properties  in  cultivation  prior  to  emancipation  have 
been  abandoned,  or  turned  to  other  uses.  But  want 
of  capital  prevails  quite  as  much  among  coffee-planters 
as  among  sugar-planters.  Coffee,  too,  like  cacao,  re 
quires  new  land,  and  the  clearance  of  fifty  acres  of 


THE   BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  221 

wood  is  a  sort  of  Herculean  enterprise  that,  in  these 
days,  a  Jamaica  planter  would  not  willingly  face. 
But,  whatever  large  coffee-planters  may  say  about 
their  profits  and  losses,  it  is  a  notorious  fact  that 
thousands  and  thousands  of  settlers  grow  the  deli 
cious  berry  to  advantage,  as  any  merchant  engaged 
in  the  trade  will  be  able  to  testify.  They  come  to  the 
towns  and  villages  with  one,  two,  six,  or  a  dozen  bags, 
and  in  this  way  many  a  cargo  is  made  up  for  foreign 
ports.  The  population  of  St.  Elizabeth  parish  num 
bers  119  persons  to  the  square  mile — a  larger  propor 
tion  than  can  be  found  in  most  of  the  sugar-growing 
parishes.  But  I  know  of  no  locality  in  Jamaica  where 
labor  for  sugar-cultivation  is  more  needed  than  here. 
The  settlers  have  their  own  properties  to  look  after, 
and  it  would  be  surprising  indeed  if  they  neglected 
them  to  hire  themselves  out  as  field  laborers  at  a  shil 
ling  a  day. 

We  leave  Black  Eiver  village  and  St.  Elizabeth 
parish,  and  soon  after  begin  to  ascend  the  Manchester 
mountains.  Fresh  horses  are  needed,  for  the  long 
miles  of  this  day's  traveling  would  make  twenty  Sab 
bath-day's  journeys.  Possibly  we  reach  the  summit 
of  the  May-day  mountains  about  sunset,  and  then  one 
of  the  finest  spectacles  in  all  Jamaica  can  be  witness 
ed.  That  last  hill,  over  a  mile  above  the  level  of  the 
sea,  was  killing  work,  and  so  steep  that  no  animals 
but  stout  Jamaica  ponies,  accustomed  to  such  travel, 
could  ever  have  dragged  us  up.  We  pause  for  breath, 
and  can  look  back  at  the  country  through  which  we 
have  lately  passed.  We  are  upon  a  ridge  of  hills 
running  north  and  south ;  a  parallel  ridge  rises  up  in 
the  distance,  standing  out  black  against  the  sun  now 


222      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

slowly  setting  beyond  it.  The  valley  below,  full 
twenty  miles  broad,  resembles,  from  this  height,  a  vast 
plain ;  but,  having  so  lately  traversed  it,  we  know  it 
is  no  plain,  but  an  uneven  country,  covered  with  for 
midable  hills,  that  have  shrunk  away  to  seemingly  a 
level  surface.  The  vast  meadow-lands  that  we  cross 
ed,  and  which  were  filled  with  stock,  have  dwindled 
down  to  specks  of  light — oases  of  cultivation  in  a  wil 
derness  of  wood — and  the  huge  cotton-trees  that  flung 
their  shelter  over  a  hundred  oxen  can  scarcely  be  dis 
tinguished  even  at  our  feet.  Hills  piled  on  hills,  and 
thunder-clouds  upon  hills,  are  massed  together  on  the 
right.  On  the  left,  over  a  mountain-top,  there  lies  a 
line  of  sea  in  which  the  sun  is  about  to  make  a  golden 
set.  The  valley  now  is  dark,  its  light  has  gone  out, 
but  the  crests  of  the  hills  are  all  ablaze.  Night  comes 
on  apace,  and  there  are  yet  ten  miles  of  bad  road  to 
travel  before  a  village  can  be  reached.  The  air,  at 
this  height,  feels  bleak  after  sunset,  and  a  cloak  is  not 
to  be  despised. 

The  sun  never  rose  upon  a  more  picturesque  vil 
lage  than  that  of  Mandeville,  the  capital  of  the  parish 
of  Manchester.  It  reminded  me  a  little  of  a  newly 
located  town  in  an  American  territory,  for  the  houses 
did  not  look  very  old,  nor  were  the  streets  out  of  re 
pair — two  exceptions  to  very  general  rules  in  Jamaica, 
Though  a  mile  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  Mandeville 
lies  in  a  hollow  surrounded  by  hills.  The  air  is  fresh 
and  the  climate  wholesome.  This  parish  is  the  only 
one  that  entirely  escaped  the  cholera. 

There  are  no  large  sugar-estates  in  Manchester. 
Coffee,  pimento,  and  provisions  are  raised  in  great 
abundance  by  the  settlers ;  but  pens  and  pasture-lands 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  223 

form  the  principal  feature  of  cultivation.  Immense 
herds  of  cattle  may  be  seen  grazing  together,  though 
stock-raising  is  not  as  profitable  as  a  stranger  might 
be  led  to  suppose.  Like  most  other  pursuits  in  Ja 
maica,  this  one  depends  very  much  on  the  sugar-crop. 
If  sugar-planting  is  abandoned,  or  if  the  planters  are 
in  reduced  circumstances,  there  is  a  diminished  de 
mand  for  stock,  and  the  breeders  surfer  in  proportion. 
The  fact  is  thus :  though  it  is  singularly  illustrative 
of  prevailing  apathy  that,  possessed  of  a  soil  that  can 
not  be  outrivaled  for  richness,  and  of  a  climate  that 
favors  the  growth  of  temperate  as  well  as  tropical 
products,  the  Jamaica  proprietary  should  submit  to 
destitution  because  they  have  not  the  money,  or  the 
means,  or  the  protection,  or  the  labor,  or  whatever 
else  it  may  be  that  is  wanted  to  cultivate  the  cane. 
I  have  no  patience  to  listen  to  their  complaints,  when 
I  look  at  the  unbounded  wealth  and  wonderful  re 
sources  of  the  country.  They  cry  out  at  the  high 
price  of  labor,  and  pretend  they  can  not  grow  corn, 
when  corn  is  grown  at  five  times  the  cost  in  the 
United  States  and  exported  to  Jamaica  at  a  handsome 
profit.  They  import  beef,  and  tongues,  and  butter, 
though  this  very  parish  of  Manchester  offers  advan 
tages  for  raising  stock  that  no  portion  of  America 
possesses.  They  import  mackerel,  and  salmon,  and 
herrings,  and  codfish,  though  Jamaica  waters  abound 
in  the  most  splendid  kind  offish.  They  import  woods, 
though  Jamaica  forests  are  unrivaled  for  the  variety 
and  beauty  and  usefulness  of  their  timber.  They  im 
port  tobacco,  though  their  soil  in  many  districts  is 
most  excellent  for  its  growth.  The  negroes,  who 
have  never  been  taught  these  things,  are  learning 


224      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FEEE  LABOR  IN 

them  slowly  by  experience,  and  a  gradual  decline  in 
certain  articles  of  import  demonstrates  that  they  now 
raise  on  their  own  properties  a  very  large  proportion 
of  their  own  provisions. 

In  a  parish  like  Manchester,  where  there  are  no 
estates,  the  settlers  grow  provisions  not  merely  for 
themselves,  but  for  the  supply  of  neighboring  sugar- 
parishes,  where  the  inhabitants   are  principally  en 
gaged  in  field  labor.      Thus  Portland   supplies  St. 
Thomas-in-the-East;  St.  Anne  supplies  Trelawny,  and 
Manchester  supplies  Clarendon  and  Yere.     In  Man 
chester,  at  the  time  I  write,  so  far  from  there  being 
any  want  of  labor,  there  are  a  number  of  people  in 
quest  of  labor  and  can  not  get  it.     This  is,  doubtless, 
to  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  there  are  no  sugar- 
estates  in  the  parish ;  for  it  is  the  cultivation  of  the 
cane   alone  that   demands  that   extraordinary  force 
which  the  planters  say  they  are  unable  to  obtain.     A 
Clarendon  planter  recently  offered  employment  to  five 
hundred  Manchester  negroes  if  they  would  change 
their  residence;  they  refused  to  do  so,  and  the  refusal 
was  published  to  the  world  as  a  complete  justification 
of  the  planters'  arguments  and  pretensions.     Now  I 
was  in  Manchester  at  the  time,  and  I  felt  certain  that 
the  offer  would  be  rejected,  and  for  reasons  that  any 
one  acquainted  with  the  negro  character  would  readi 
ly  understand.     The  laborer  has  been  so  often  the 
victim  of  promises,  carelessly  made  and  as  carelessly 
broken,  that  he  may  be  pardoned  for  declining  to 
travel  fifty  or  a  hundred  miles  upon  the  vague  assur 
ance  of  a  distressed  proprietor  that  he  will  give  regu 
lar  work  and  remunerative  wages.     Were  work  and 
wages  both  guaranteed,  I  doubt  whether  the  negro 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  225 

could  thus  be  induced  to  leave  his  home.  He  has  an 
invincible  dislike  to  move  his  household  gods.  It 
seems  an  unaccountable  prejudice;  but,  throughout 
the  whole  island,  the  people  may  be  found  clinging  to 
the  plots  of  ground  upon  which  they  were  born  and 
their  fathers  before  them. 

The  road  from  Mandeville,  in  Manchester,  descends 
into  the  parish  of  Clarendon.  Neither  this  parish  nor 
the  one  contiguous  to  it,  St.  Dorothy,  need  any  special 
notice.  Sugar-cultivation  in  both  is  scanty,  for  the 
soil  is  not  very  favorable  for  the  growth  of  the  cane. 
The  sugar-lands  in  the  former  parish  lie  to  the  north 
of  the  Mocho  mountains.  In  the  latter,  the  smallest 
parish  after  Kingston  and  Port  Koyal,  there  are  only 
one  or  two  estates  in  cultivation.  The  population  of 
Clarendon  is  54,  and  of  St.  Dorothy  91  persons  to  the 
square  mile,  and  the  settlers  grow  provisions  and  minor 
articles  for  export.  At  the  small  village  of  Lime- 
Savannah,  some  distance  from  the  sugar  properties  of 
Clarendon,  the  people  are  about  building  an  independ 
ent  church. 

The  parish  of  Yere,  forming  the  most  southern 
promontory  of  Jamaica,  when  seen  from  the  hills  of 
Clarendon,  which  it  adjoins,  presents  a  rich  alluvial 
country — something  like  Barbados,  which  it  nearly 
equals  in  size,  but  without  the  garden-like  appearance 
of  that  exquisite  island.  Some  of  the  best  estates  in 
Jamaica  are  situated  here,  and  they  occasionally  suffer 
from  severe  drouth.  If  money,  enterprise,  and  labor 
were  forthcoming,  it  would  not  be  an  impossible,  nor 
yet  a  very  expensive  undertaking,  to  turn  some  of 
the  mountain  streams  into  the  parish,  and  save  the 
vast  sums  that  planters  not  unfrequently  lose  from  dry 
K2 


226      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

weather.  But  there  must  be  a  great  change  in  Jamai 
ca  before  money,  enterprise,  and  labor  are  readily 
found  there.  It  is  worthy  of  remark,  as  proved  by 
this  and  other  parishes,  that  only  first-class  estates,  or, 
in  other  words,  estates  that  have  had  means  at  com 
mand,  are  now  in  cultivation.  Here,  again,  we  find, 
as  an  explanation  of  prevalent  distress,  want  of  capi 
tal  ;  for  if  it  were  solely  want  of  labor,  the  large  estates 
that  required  most  labor  would  be  the  first  to  suffer. 
In  a  precarious  business  like  sugar-cultivation,  where 
the  loss  of  an  entire  crop  must  now  and  then  be 
expected,  there  is  no  salvation  for  the  Jamaica  plant 
er  who  can  command  neither  capital  nor  credit  when 
an  unfavorable  season  overtakes  him.  He  was  ac 
customed,  in  times  past,  as  some  are  accustomed  even 
to-day,  to  hope  against  hope,  that  a  sudden  rise  in 
sugar,  or  some  other  lucky  stroke  of  fortune,  would 
free  him  from  trouble,  and  his  estate  from  an  incum- 
brance  three  times  its  actual  value.  One  in  a  hund 
red,  perhaps,  realized  his  dreams,  and,  warned  by  ex 
perience,  either  prudently  withdrew,  or  curtailed  his 
extravagance  and  altered  his  plans  so  as  to  meet  the 
new  order  of  things  introduced  with  emancipation. 
The  other  ninety -nine  met  the  fate  that  must  inevita 
bly  overwhelm  the  desperate  gambler,  who,  with  a 
few  shillings  in  his  pocket,  plays  against  the  certain 
chances  of  a  bank. 

This  want  of  capital — quite  irrespective  of  a  want 
of  labor,  which  I  admit  to  exist — has  been  a  fruitful 
cause  of  the  abandonment  of  sugar-cultivation.  The 
most  hasty  tour  through  the  island  will  convince  any 
one  that  contract  or  permanent  labor — wholly  inde 
pendent  of  the  valuable  but  transient  work  of  the  ne- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  227 

groes,  who  have  their  own  properties  to  look  after — is 
absolutely  needed  before  the  cultivation  of  the  cane  in 
Jamaica  can  be  largely  extended  or  real  estate  com 
mand  its  positive  value.  I  do  not  believe  that  the 
absence  of  this  contract  labor  explains  the  present 
great  depression  of  Jamaican  commerce.  My  belief  is 
that  the  contract  or  permanent  labor  of  coolies  is 
needed,  as  a  supplementary  labor  to  that  of  the  Cre 
ole,  alike  on  the  richest  and  the  poorest  estates.  There 
is  sufficient  labor  in  Jamaica  now  for  the  bare  wants 
of  its  reduced  cultivation,  if  the  planter  had  means 
enough  to  pay  his  laborers,  fairly  and  punctually,  the 
wages  they  earn.  Those  wages  are  not  too  high, 
for  they  are  scarcely  one  fourth  of  what  a  day -la 
borer  can  command  in  America.  This  I  state  unhes 
itatingly.  But,  at  the  same  time,  I  state  with  equal 
confidence  that,  in  Jamaica,  permanent  labor,  that  is, 
daily  labor  throughout  the  year — that  kind  of  labor 
which  will  enable  the  planter  to  improve  his  proper 
ty  and  extend  his  cultivation — is  wholly  wanting,  and 
it  seems  to  me  that,  without  it,  neither  capital  nor 
confidence  will  ever  fully  return  to  the  island.  The 
point  I  make  is  this:  Jamaica  wants  labor,  but  that 
want  is  not  the  preponderating  cause  of  her  decline. 
In  this  parish  of  Yere,  large  estates  are  now  in  flour 
ishing  cultivation;  yet  its  entire  population  is  only 
twenty-eight  to  the  square  mile,  considerably  less  than 
that  of  any  other  parish  in  the  island. 

Eeturning  from  Yere,  the  road  joins  a  turnpike  high 
way  near  the  village  of  Old  Harbor,  in  the  parish  of 
St.  Dorothy.  From  thence  to  Spanish-Town,  through 
St.  Catharines,  it  is  luxurious  traveling,  after  recent 
experience  of  Jamaica  roads.  A  few  sugar-estates  are 


228      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

passed,  but  the  main  features  of  the  cultivation  are 
pasture  and  provision  grounds. 

My  account  of  a  tour  through  the  interior  of  Jamai 
ca  is  already  sufficiently  long,  without  adding  a  de 
tailed  description  of  the  eastern  parishes  that  I  visited. 
There  is,  moreover,  nothing  essentially  new  to  be  told 
about  them.  With  the  exception  of  St.  Thomas-in- 
the-East — one  of  the  finest  sugar-districts  in  the  island 
—none  of  these  parishes  can  boast  of  any  thing  like  a 
general  cultivation.  Yet  the  eastern  section  of  Jamai 
ca  (the  county  of  Surrey)  has  probably  more  natural 
advantages  than  either  of  the  other  two  counties,  Mid 
dlesex  and  Cornwall.  In  the  parishes  of  St.  Mary, 
Metcalf,  St.  George,  and  Portland,  on  the  north  coast, 
a  great  many  estates  have  been  abandoned ;  some  five 
or  six  have  been  lately  resuscitated,  and  the  settlers 
are  in  an  independent  and  thriving  condition.  The 
physical  aspect  of  these  parishes  is  wild,  and  the  roads 
in  many  places  are  impassable  for  vehicles.  A  fine 
road  is  now  in  course  of  construction  from  Kingston 
to  Annotto  Bay.  In  the  vicinity  of  the  latter  place, 
and  also  in  the  vicinity  of  Port  Maria  and  Port  An 
tonio,  some  few  estates  are  in  cultivation,  but  the  in 
terior  country  is  occupied  exclusively  by  negro  set 
tlers.  St.  Thomas-in-the-East  is  such  another  parish 
as  Westmoreland.  St.  David,  on  the  south  coast,  is 
almost  an  unbroken  wood-land,  and  Port  Royal,  the 
smallest  parish  in  the  island,  is  still  celebrated  for  its 
extensive  coffee  properties.  Such  information  con 
cerning  Jamaica  as  I  have  been  able  to  obtain  and  to 
give,  I  have  picked  up,  as  it  were,  by  the  way-side. 
For  my  inferences  and  conclusions  I  have  had  to  de 
pend  altogether  upon  my  own  observations.  No  re- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  229 

liable  statistical  returns  can  be  procured  in  official 
quarters.  The  colony  has  passed  through  an  agricul 
tural  crisis  of  the  severest  kind;  the  question  most 
vitally  affecting  all  interests  is  admitted  to  be  the  la 
bor  question — and  yet  no  effort  has  been  made  to  ob 
tain  authentic  data  as  the  proper  basis  for  legislation. 
Legislators  have  legislated  abundantly,  but  in  the 
dark.  They  do  not  yet  practically  believe  that  the 
actual  condition  of  Jamaica  and  the  demonstrations 
of  her  past  experience  are  the  only  safe  axioms  by 
which  the  problem  that  puzzles  them  can  be  solved, 
and  the  only  safe  beacons  by  which  the  colony  can  be 
guided  to  prosperity  and  life. 


230      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  XXIII. 

THE   OLD   PLANTOCRACY. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

THE  planters  of  Jamaica  constitute  no  longer  the 
overruling  oligarchy,  or  "plantocracy,"  that  they  once 
actually  were,  and  are  still  somewhat  insolently  desig 
nated  in  the  bitterness  of  party  spirit.  Poverty  may 
not  have  humbled  their  pride  or  changed  their  belief 
in  the  "divine  right"  of  the  white  man  to  enslave  the 
black ;  for,  in  their  own  homes  and  on  their  own  es 
tates,  and  in  public  whenever  an  opportunity  offers, 
they  wage,  under  different  guises,  the  old  war  against 
free  labor.  But  as  a  political  body,  with  power  to 
control  the  destinies  of  the  island,  they  no  longer  live. 
One  after  another  the  relics  of  the  system  of  coercion 
to  which  they  clung  are  being  swept  away.  Their 
complaints  have  been  disregarded — their  petitions 
have  been  rejected — until,  in  despair  or  disgust,  they 
have  almost  altogether  retired  from  the  contest,  and 
left  the  field  open  to  their  undisguised  and  uncompro 
mising  opponents. 

The  planters  of  Jamaica,  it  may  be  thought,  have 
not  had  a  full  measure  of  justice  meted  out  to  them. 
They,  especially,  and  far  beyond  all  other  West  India 
planters,  have  had  to  bear  the  brunt  of  the  anti-slav 
ery  attack.  But  this  is  not  a  little  owing  to  the  per 
sistency  of  their  own  hostile  attitude,  to  their  misrep- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  231 

reservations,  to  the  selfishness  of  their  aims,  and  to 
the  mistakes  of  their  policy. 

It  is  a  curious  and  instructive  study  to  track  the 
decline  of  the  old  West  Indian  plantocracy ;  and 
though  I  have  attempted  such  an  invidious  task  in  a 
former  chapter  on  Barbados,  I  must,  to  make  myself 
understood,  attempt  it  again  with  special  regard  to 
the  Jamaica  proprietary.  Throughout  many  changes, 
social  and  political,  the  same  selfishness  will  be  found 
at  the  root  of  all  their  schemes ;  the  same  disregard  of 
truth  in  their  public  statements ;  the  same  opposition 
to  popular  freedom,  progress,  and  enlightenment  in 
their  acts.  It  was  on  the  ground  of  humanity  that, 
in  the  commencement  of  the  present  century,  they 
opposed  the  abolition  of  the  slave-trade.  They  urged 
that  there  was  an  annual  decrease  of  two  and  a  half 
per  cent,  among  the  negroes,  and  that  if  the  same 
quantity  of  labor  should  continue  to  be  exacted  as  the 
number  of  slaves  diminished,  the  loss  would  be  great 
er  every  year,  and  would  augment  with  accelerated 
rapidity.  The  unfriendliness  of  slavery  to  population 
was  a  strong  argument  in  the  mouths  of  slave-traders. 
If  the  slave-trade  were  abolished,  the  sugar-estates  of 
Jamaica,  it  was  prophesied,  would  be  dismantled  with 
in  thirty  years,  and  the  130,000  negroes  then  engaged 
in  the  culture  of  the  cane  would  be  utterly  extinct ! 
The  planters  of  the  day,  when  they  petitioned  Parlia 
ment,  based  their  grounds  for  redress  on  the  expense 
of  the  slave  system  which  prevented  them  from  com 
peting,  without  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  labor,  with 
those  colonies  and  countries  in  which  the  African 
slave-trade  had  not  been  abolished. 

Twenty-five  years  later,  when  Parliament,  in  obedi- 


232      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

ence  to  the  tremendous  pressure  of  public  opinion  at 
home,  formally  declared  its  determination  to  abolish 
slavery  in  the  "West  Indies,  the  planters  essayed  to 
demonstrate  the  cheapness  of  slave  labor  as  compared 
with  the  free  labor  about  to  be  introduced.  Emanci 
pation,  they  said,  would  ruin  them,  and  preclude  any 
competition  with  countries  where  slavery  continued 
to  exist.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  planter  thus 
argued.  He  was  the  owner  of  the  slaves  who  culti 
vated  his  property.  It  was  a  matter  of  doubt  wheth 
er  he  would  be  compensated  for  them  at  all  in  the 
event  of  abolition.  Under  the  old  regime  he  was  not 
compelled  to  make  the  weekly  disbursements  that  the 
new  order  of  things  would  demand;  and  he  could 
still  go  on  hoping  that  a  rise  in  sugar  would  furnish 
him  with  means  to  liquidate  his  most  pressing  debts. 
He  dreaded  a  change  that  would  certainly  expose  his 
bankruptcy. 

During  all  this  time  the  prosperity  of  Jamaica  was 
on  the  decline.  The  exportation  of  sugar  had  gradu 
ally  decreased  from  150,000  hhds.  in  1805,  to  85,000 
hhds.  in  1833.  It  was  not  emancipation  or  the 
thought  of  emancipation  that  dragged  down  the  isl 
and  suddenly  from  the  pinnacle  of  its  prosperity. 
The  deterioration  progressed  slowly.  Between  the 
years  1814  and  1832  the  coffee-crop  was  also  reduced 
one  half;  and  during  the  fifty  years  that  preceded 
emancipation  it  is  estimated  that  two  hundred  sugar- 
estates  were  abandoned.  The  planters  say  that  the 
fear  of  impending  abolition  induced  them  to  with 
draw  capital  from  their  estates.  But  abolition  was 
not  dreamed  of  when  the  decline  of  Jamaica  set  in. 
While  the  slave-trade  was  yet  in  operation  over  one 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  233 

hundred  properties  had  been  deserted — deserted,  too, 
for  the  same  cause  that  compelled  their  desertion  in 
later  years — debt  and  want  of  capital. 

Sugar-cultivation,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say,  to 
be  carried  on  with  profit  to  the  proprietor,  and  with 
ordinary  chances  of  ultimate  success,  requires  an  enor 
mous  capital,  not  only  at  the  outset,  but  to  provide 
against  the  losses  that  unfavorable  seasons  very  fre 
quently  entail.  I  can  not  do  better  than  transfer  here, 
from  Mr.  Edwards's  History  of  the  West  Indies,  a 
picture  of  Jamaica  sugar-cultivation  sixty  years  ago. 
Himself  a  planter,  a  slaveholder,  and  opposed  to  the 
abolition  of  the  slave-trade,  the  author  represents  that 
the  estates  at  that  time  were  very  much  understocked 
with  slaves,  and  speaks  of  a  West  India  property  "  as 
a  species  of  lottery,"  giving  birth  to  a  spirit  of  adven 
ture,  and  awakening  extravagant  hopes,  "  too  fre 
quently  terminating  in  perplexity  and  disappoint 
ment."  Mr.  Edwards  proceeds  to  say : 

"  The  total  amount  of  the  annual  contingent  charges 
of  all  kinds  (on  an  estate  yielding  200  hhds.  of  sugar) 
is  £2150,  which  is  precisely  one  half  the  gross  re 
turns,  leaving  the  other  moiety,  or  £2150,  and  no 
more,  clear  profit  to  the  planter,  being  seven  per  cent, 
on  his  capital,  without  charging,  however,  a  shilling 
for  making  good  the  decrease  of  the  negroes,  or  for  the 
wear  and  tear  of  the  buildings,  or  making  any  allow 
ance  for  dead  capital,  and  supposing,  too,  that  the  pro 
prietor  resides  on  the  spot ;  for,  if  he  is  absent,  he  is 
subject  in  Jamaica  to  an  annual  tax  of  £6  per  cent, 
on  the  gross  value  of  his  sugar  and  rum  for  legal 
commissions  to  his  agent.  With  these  and  other 
drawbacks,  to  say  nothing  of  the  devastations  which 


234      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

are  sometimes  occasioned  by  fires  and  hurricanes,  de 
stroying  in  a  few  hours  the  labor  of  years,  it  is  not 
wonderful  that  the  profits  should  frequently  dwindle 
to  nothing ;  or,  rather,  that  a  sugar-estate,  with  all  its 
boasted  advantages,  should  sometimes  prove  a  mill 
stone  about  the  neck  of  its  unfortunate  proprietor 
which  is  dragging  him  to  destruction.  *  *  *  It  were 
to  be  wished  that  people  would  inquire  how  many 
unhappy  persons  have  been  totally  and  irretrievably 
ruined  by  adventuring  in  the  cultivation  of  these  isl 
ands  without  possessing  any  adequate  means  to  sup 
port  them  in  such  great  undertakings.  On  the  fail 
ure  of  some  of  these  unfortunate  men,  vast  estates 
have,  indeed,  been  raised  by  persons  who  have  had 
money  at  command;  men  there  are,  who,  reflecting 
on  the  advantages  to  be  derived  from  this  circum 
stance,  behold  a  sugar-planter  struggling  in  distress 
with  the  same  emotions  as  are  felt  by  the  Cornish 
peasants  in  contemplating  a  shipwreck  on  the  coast, 
and  hasten  with  equal  rapaciousncss  to  participate  in 
the  spoil.  Like  them,  too,  they  sometimes  hold  out 
false  lights  to  lead  the  ujiwary  adventurer  to  destruc 
tion,  more  especially  if  he  has  any  thing  considerable 
of  his  own  to  set  out  with.  Money  is  advanced  and 
encouragement  given  to  a  certain  point,  but  a  skillful 
practitioner  knows  where  to  stop ;  he  is  aware  that 
very  large  sums  must  be  expended  in  the  purchase 
of  the  freehold,  and  in  the  first  operations  of  clearing 
and  planting  the  lands  and  erecting  the  buildings,  be 
fore  any  return  can  be  made.  One  third  of  the  money 
thus  expended  he  has,  perhaps,  furnished;  but  the 
time  soon  arrives  when  a  farther  advance  is  requisite 
to  give  life  and  activity  to  the  system  by  the  addition 


!THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  235 

of  the  negroes  and  the  stock.  Now  then  is  the  mo 
ment  for  oppression,  aided  by  ths  letter  of  the  law,  to 
reap  a  golden  harvest.  If  the  property  answers  ex 
pectation  and  the  land  promise  great  returns,  the  sa 
gacious  creditor,  instead  of  giving  farther  aid,  or  leav 
ing  his  too  confident  debtor  to  mako  the  best  of  his 
way  by  his  own  exertions,  pleads  a  sudden  and  unex 
pected  emergency,  and  insists  on  the  immediate  repay 
ment  of  the  sum  already  lent.  The  law  on  this  occa 
sion  is  far  from  being  chargeable  with  delay— and 
avarice  is  inexorable.  A  sale  is  hurried  on,  and  no 
bidders  appear  but  the  creditor  himself.  Eeady 
money  is  required  in  payment,  and  every  one  sees 
that  a  farther  sum  will  be  wanted  to  make  the  estate 
productive.  Few,  therefore,  have  the  means  who 
have  even  the  wish  efficaciously  to  assist  the  devoted 
victim.  Thus  the  creditor  gets  the  estate  at  his  own 
price,  commonly  for  his  first  advance,  while  the  mis 
erable  debtor  has  reason  to  thank  his  stars  if,  consol 
ing  himself  with  only  the  loss  of  his  own  original  cap 
ital  and  his  labor  for  a  series  of  years,  he  escapes  a 
prison  for  life.  *  *  *  At  the  same  time  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  there  are  creditors,  especially  among  the 
British  merchants,  of  a  different  character  from  those 
that  have  been  described,  who,  having  advanced  their 
money  to  resident  planters  on  the  fair  ground  of  re 
ciprocal  benefit,  have  been  compelled,  much  against 
their  inclination,  to  become  planters  themselves ;  be 
ing  obliged  to  receive  unprofitable  "West  India  estates 
in  payment,  or  lose  their  money  altogether.  I  have 
known  plantations  transferred  in  this  manner  which 
are  a  burden  instead  of  a  benefit  to  the  holder ;  and 
are  kept  up  solely  in  the  hope  that  favorable  crops, 


236      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

and  an  advance  in  the  prices  of  West  Indian  produce, 
may  some  time  or  other  invite  purchasers.  Thus  op 
pression  in  one  class  of  creditors,  and  gross  injustice 
toward  another,  contribute  equally  to  keep  up  culti 
vation  in  a  country  where,  if  the  risks  and  losses  are 
great,  the  gains  are  commensurate.  *  *  *  In  this,  as 
in  all  other  enterprises  where  success  depends  in  any 
degree  on  human  sagacity  and  prudence,  though  per 
haps  not  more  than  one  man  in  fifty  comes  away  for 
tunate,  every  sanguine  adventurer  takes  for  granted 
that  he  shall  be  that  one.  Thus  his  system  of  life  be 
comes  a  course  of  experiments ;  and  if  ruin  should  be 
the  consequence  of  his  rashness,  he  imputes  his  mis 
fortune  to  any  cause  rather  than  to  his  own  want  of 
capacity  or  foresight." 

This  is  a  picture  of  Jamaica  cultivation  sixty  years 
ago,  when  monopoly  favored  the  proprietor,  and  sugar 
was  sold  for  treble  the  price  that  it  will  now  command. 
Nor  is  it  so  unlike  the  cultivation  of  the  present  day 
that  it  can  not  be  recognized,  for  half  a  century  has 
brought  to  the  Jamaica  planter  but  little  knowledge 
of  the  labor-saving  arts.  The  evils,  however,  which 
were  then  only  taking  root,  have  since  overshadowed 
the  island.  Hypothecation,  rendered  necessary  by  the 
expenses  of  the  slave  system  and  the  .extravagance 
of  the  planters,  increased  so  fast  that  nine  out  of  ten 
estates  at  the  time  of  emancipation  were  mortgaged 
far  beyond  their  value.  The  creditors  were  English 
merchants,  who  vainly  tried  to  keep  up  the  cultiva 
tion  of  the  property  that  reverted  to  them.  How 
could  they  do  so?  Estates  that  yielded  an  average 
annual  income  of  seven  per  cent.,  with  the  proprietor 
resident,  could  not,  with  the  proprietor  absent,  pay 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  237 

attorneys  and  overseer,  and  still  be  worked  at  a  profit. 
Many  proprietors  tried  the  impossible  experiment  and 
failed,  while  their  agents  and  overseers  made  money, 
or  ultimately  bought  in  the  estate  at  a  nominal  cost. 
Many  proprietors  have  since  tried  the  experiment,  and 
have  failed,  and  will  continue  to  fail  as  long  as  they 
neglect  the  common  teachings  of  experience.  They 
will  attribute  their  failure  to  any  but  the  right  cause. 
They  shut  their  eyes  to  the  fact  that,  in  times  past  and 
in  times  present,  the  successful  estates  in  Jamaica  have 
always  had,  and  have  still,  resident  proprietors.  Ab 
senteeism,  it  is  true,  is  less  prevalent  now  than  it  was 
about  the  period  of  emancipation.  But  the  seeds  of 
the  evil  were  sown  years  and  years  ago,  and  the  fruit 
must  be  reaped.  No  country,  since  the  world  was 
made,  were  its  resources  tenfold  greater  than  those  of 
Jamaica,  could  continue  to  prosper  with  the  large  body 
of  its  landed  proprietary  permanent  absentees.  And 
even  those  who  were  nominally  residents  usually  pass 
ed  half  the  year  in  Europe,  and  spent  their  money 
there.  England  was  always  their  home,  and  Jamaica 
merely  a  place  out  of  which  the  most  was  to  be  made. 
I  feel  it  almost  a  plagiarism  to  enumerate  these  causes 
of  the  decline  of  Jamaica,  they  have  been  so  often 
explained  by  other  writers — they  are  so  perfectly  ob 
vious  to  any  unprejudiced  inquirer  after  truth.  They 
were  evils  sufficiently  serious  to  ruin  the  island  had 
emancipation  never  taken  place.  They  exhausted 
capital  and  destroyed  credit,  and  without  these  it 
would  be  impossible  for  any  country  to  flourish. 
Since  emancipation  this  want  of  capital  has  been  the 
chief  cause  of  an  unceasing  depression.  The  sum  re 
ceived  by  the  planter  for  his  slaves  was  insufficient  to 


238      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOH  IS 

pay  off  his  mortgages ;  he  had  no  money  to  improve 
his  estate  or  even  sustain  a  naked  cultivation ;  he  had 
no  money  to  keep  roads  in  repair  or  build  tramways ; 
he  had  no  money  to  pay  for  labor ;  he  had  no  money 
to  meet  misfortune.  What  was  the  inevitable  conse 
quence  ?  His  mortgages  were  foreclosed ;  he  reduced 
his  cultivation ;  he  sold  small  lots  to  settlers  to  meet 
pressing  wants ;  the  roads  were  so  bad  that  the  trans 
portation  of  sugar  to  the  shipping-port  became  one  of 
his  heaviest  items  of  expenditure ;  the  laborers  whom 
he  neglected  to  pay  went  elsewhere ;  the  day  of  mis 
fortune  came,  and  overwhelmed  him  with  ruin.  He 
was  bankrupt  before  emancipation ;  but  it  was  eman 
cipation  that  tore  down  the  veil  which  concealed  his 
poverty.  I  speak  generally,  for  I  do  not  doubt  that 
there  were  many  exceptional  cases.  Many  of  the 
three  hundred  estates  in  cultivation  at  the  present  day 
are  exceptions.  There  were  planters  who  continued 
to  cultivate  sugar  after  emancipation — who  were  suc 
cessful  then,  and  are  successful  still — and  since  1853, 
when  the  general  abandonment  of  estates  may  be  said 
to  have  ceased  in  Jamaica,  the  number  of  these  suc 
cessful  planters  has  considerably  increased.  I  need 
not  pause  to  explain  that  they  were  all  men  of  capi 
tal,  and  that  their  properties  were  economically  man 
aged,  for  both  assertions  are  proved  to  demonstration 
by  the  fact  that  only  first-class  estates  are  in  cultiva 
tion  to-day. 

But  the  old  plantocracy  steadily  and  fatally  ignored, 
in  early  as  in  later  times,  the  real  causes  of  the  island's 
decline.  They  shrunk  from  the  idea  of  putting  their 
own  shoulders  to  the  wheel.  In  the  days  of  their 
prosperity  they  never  faced  labor;  in  the  days  of 


THE  BRITISH  WEST   INDIES.  239 

their  adversity  they  did  not  face  misfortune.  If  they 
thought  freedom  the  worst  system  of  labor  in  the 
world,  their  manhood  should  have  taught  them  to 
make  the  most  of  what  was  done  and  could  never 
again  be  undone.  They  would  not  give  it  a  fair  trial, 
but  preferred  to  see  their  heritage  pass  away  without 
a  living  struggle  to  redeem  it.  They  have  complain 
ed  loudly  enough,  and  have  waited  in  the  modest  ex 
pectation  that  the  government  of  England  would 
wrong  the  people  of  England  to  relieve  them.  They 
expected  a  restoration  of  protective  duties  on  sugar, 
and  the  imposition  of  a  heavy  tax  on  the  British  na 
tion,  in  order  that  they,  who  gave  nothing  in  return, 
might  live  in  sumptuous  and  easy  luxury.  They 
have  iterated  and  reiterated  the  false  accusation  that 
the  negro  will  not  work,  in  order  to  raise  up  a  seem 
ing  justification  for  themselves,  and  they  have  done 
all  they  could  to  bring  him  again  under  a  yoke  of 
coercion.  By  these  means  they  succeeded  in  keeping 
morbidly  alive  the  anti-slavery  spirit  of  the  British 
people,  and  of  fanning  into  flame  a  philanthropic  zeal 
that,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say,  has  proved  injurious  to 
the  best  interests  of  Jamaica.  If,  instead  of  trying  to 
create  sympathy  for  their  class  by  the  false  assertion 
that  the  negro  would  neither  work  for  love  or  money, 
they  had  simply  urged  a  want  of  labor,  there  can  not  be 
a  doubt  that,  like  the  Mauritius,  Guiana,  or  Trinidad, 
Jamaica  at  this  day  would  have  an  ample  population. 
I  do  not  deny  that  the  planters  of  Jamaica  have  had 
misfortunes  to  contend  with.  It  was  their  misfortune 
that  they  inherited  a  system  of  labor  that  demanded 
extravagant  expenditure.  It  was  their  misfortune 
that  slavery  so  deeply  degraded  labor,  that,  even  un- 


240      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

der  freedom,  the  effect  of  such  a  curse  could  not 
speedily  be  removed.  It  was  their  misfortune  that, 
within  the  century  prior  to  emancipation,  there  were 
over  thirty  servile  insurrections  in  the  island,  each 
one  of  which  entailed  a  heavy  expense  upon  the  pro 
prietary,  and,  in  some  cases,  brought  them  to  the 
verge  of  ruin.  It  was  their  misfortune  that,  with  the 
rise  and  progress  of  the  United  States,  Jamaica  lost  the 
prominent  position  she  once  occupied  as  a  depot  of 
trade  between  Europe  and  the  Spanish  Main,  and  that 
a  large  amount  of  commercial  capital  was  in  conse 
quence  withdrawn  from  the  island.  It  was  their  misfor 
tune  that  their  expenses  were  aggravated  by  the  mis 
taken  policy  of  the  imperial  government,  which  placed 
restrictions  and  prohibitions  on  colonial  intercourse 
with  the  American  republic.  It  was  their  misfortune 
that  they  were  never  adequately  paid  for  their  slave 
property.  It  was  their  misfortune  that  they  found 
themselves  compelled  to  mortgage  their  estates — that 
their  debts  continued  to  increase — and  that  when  an 
unfavorable  season  overtook  them  they  lifted  up  their 
eyes  in  hopeless  bankruptcy.  It  was  their  misfortune 
that  among  the  island  merchants  they  found  too  many 
like  those  whom,  sixty  years  ago,  Bryan  Edwards 
likened  to  Cornish  wreckers.  It  was  their  misfortune 
that,  between  1815  and  1825,  the  price  of  their  great 
staple  fell  twenty-five  per  cent. — that  between  1825 
and  1835  it  fell  another  twenty-five  per  cent. — and 
that  between  1835  and  1850  it  fell  twenty-five  per 
cent,  yet  again.  It  was  their  misfortune  that  the 
British  nation  would  no  longer  consent  to  be  taxed 
to  support  them,  and  that  the  protective  tariff  upon 
West  India  sugars  should  have  been  abolished.  It 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  241 

was  their  misfortune  to  have  been  distrusted  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  to  have  been  the  victims  of  a  jeal 
ousy  that  refused  for  years  to  Jamaica,  alone  of  all  the 
British  West  Indies,  the  privileges  and  the  advan 
tages  of  a  wholesome  immigration. 

But  it  was  their  fault  that,  under  the  most  expens 
ive  system  of  labor  known,  they  were  ever  reckless 
and  improvident.  It  was  their  fault  that  they  prose 
cuted  a  precarious  business  in  the  spirit  of  reckless 
gamblers.  It  was  their  fault  that  they  wasted  their 
substance  in  riotous  living.  It  was  their  fault  that 
they  obeyed  not  the  commonest  rules  of  political 
economy — that  they  saved  no  labor  and  spared  no 
land.  It  was  their  fault  that  they  faced  not  labor 
themselves,  but  were  absentees  from  their  estates,  and 
followed  a  road  that  could  lead  to  no  possible  end  but 
ruin.  It  was  their  fault  that  they  listened  to  no 
warning — that  they  heeded  not  the  signs  of  the  times 
— that  they  opposed  all  schemes  for  gradual  emancipa 
tion,  and  even  for  ameliorating  the  condition  of  the 
slaves,  until  the  crushing  weight  of  public  opinion 
broke  the  chain  of  slavery  asunder,  and  threw  sud 
denly  upon  their  own  resources  an  ignorant  and  un 
disciplined  people.  Theirs  were  the  faults  of  policy 
and  government  that  drove  the  Creoles  from  planta 
tions,  that  kept  the  population  in  ignorance,  that  dis 
couraged  education,  and  left  morality  at  the  lowest 
ebb.  It  is  their  fault  that,  under  a  system  of  freedom 
from  which  there  is  no  relapse,  they  have  made  no 
brave  attempt  to  redeem  past  errors  and  retrieve  past 
misfortunes,  but  have  been  content  to  bemoan  their 
fate  in  passive  complaint,  and  to  saddle  the  negro  with  a 
ruin  for  which  they  themselves  are  only  responsible. 

L 


242      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

This  was  the  old  plantocracy — the  generous,  hospi 
table,  improvident,  domineering  plantocracy  of  Jamai 
ca.  Their  power  no  longer  predominates.  They 
command  no  credit  and  no  respect,  and  they  obtain 
but  little  sympathy  in  their  misfortune.  Even  from 
domestic  legislation  they  have  sullenly  retired,  and 
their  places  are  being  fast  filled  by  the  people  whom 
they  have  so  long  and  so  vainly  tried  to  keep  down. 
I  am  not  going  to  speak  of  the  change  in  terms  of  ex 
travagant  admiration.  The  mass  of  the  inhabitants 
are  still  too  ignorant  to  exercise  the  franchise  with  dis 
cretion,  and  all  are  more  or  less  imbued  with  the  prej 
udices  of  caste.  But  imperfect  and  defective  as  it  is, 
representative  and  responsible  government  in  Jamaica 
is  greatly  preferable  to  the  oligarchy  of  a  planter's 
reign.  The  interests,  moral,  political,  and  education 
al,  of  the  people,  are  more  cared  for,  and  on  their 
progress,  much  more  than  on  the  success  of  large  plan 
tations,  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  island  most 
assuredly  depends. 

Nor  are  the  new  class  of  resident  planters  who 
have  appeared  in  Jamaica  within  ten  years  past  by 
any  means  to  be  ignored.  They  work  their  estates 
with  prudence  and  economy,  though  they  lack  the  ad 
vantages  that  latter-day  science  has  given  to  Ameri 
can  and  Cuban  proprietors.  Capital  and  labor  are 
both  needed,  but  the  art  of  economizing  labor  is  need 
ed  still  more.  A  Cuban  planter  makes  twice  the 
quantity  of  sugar  from  an  acre  of  land  that  a  Jamaica 
planter  does.  Nevertheless,  it  is  a  fact,  of  which  I 
have  had  ample  proof  in  all  parts  of  the  island,  that 
many  Jamaica  planters  who  look  after  their  own  bus 
iness  have  relieved  their  estates  from  incumbrance, 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  243 

and  are,  even  now,  making  handsome  fortunes.  Since 
1858  as  many  properties  have  been  resuscitated  as 
abandoned ;  and  I  regard  it  as  one  of  the  most  favor 
able  signs  of  improvement  that  the  work  of  regenera 
tion,  however  small  its  commencement,  has  been  at 
least  inaugurated  by  new  men. 


244      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTEK  XXIV. 

THE  MIDDLE  AND   LABORING  CLASSES. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

IF  I  were  asked  to  describe,  in  as  few  words  as  pos 
sible,  the  effect  of  emancipation  in  Jamaica,  I  should 
say — the  creation  of  a  middle  class.  There  was  no 
middle  class  under  slavery,  and  could  be  none.  Mas 
ter  and  servant  made  up  the  population.  They  were 
alike  in  this  respect,  that  their  thoughts  were  all  of 
the  present.  Neither  had  any  patriotism;  neither 
had  any  interest  in  the  moral,  social,  or  political  prog 
ress  of  the  colony — the  one  because  of  his  selfishness, 
the  other  because  of  his  ignorance.  The  proprietary 
never  even  attempted  to  lay  the  foundations  of  a  du 
rable  prosperity.  On  the  contrary,  they  exhausted  a 
substance  that  was  deemed  inexhaustible,  so  that  they 
might  accumulate  wealth  and  escape  the  sooner  from 
confinement  in  a  tropical  island,  and  from  the  limited 
resources  of  an  unpolished  society. 

Emancipation  struck  at  the  very  root  of  the  exist 
ing  system,  and  the  revolution  brought  with  it  a  large 
admixture  of  good  and  evil.  But  one  most  beneficial 
result  stands  out  to-day  so  prominently,  and  in  such 
bulky  proportions,  that  the  most  prejudiced  can  not 
close  their  eyes  to  its  presence.  Emancipation  has 
created  a  middle  class — a  class  who  are  born  in  Ja 
maica,  and  who  will  die  in  Jamaica — a  class  of  propri- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  245 

etors,  tax-payers,  and  voters,  whose  property,  patriot 
ism,  happiness,  and  comfort  are  bound  up  in  the  isl 
and's  permanent  prosperity. 

It  is  but  twenty-two  years  ago  that  the  slaves  of 
Jamaica  were  fully  liberated.  The  apprenticeship 
was,  in  a  moment  of  bitter  excitement,  cut  short  by 
the  planters  themselves,  and  320,000  slaves — an  un 
disciplined,  degraded,  half-savage  crowd — were,  with 
out  any  preparation  or  training,  left  to  their  own  de 
vices.  The  free  colored  Creoles  numbered  60,000, 
and  the  total  black  and  colored  population  of  the  pe 
riod  consisted,  therefore,  of  380,000  souls.  By  the 
census  of  1844,  the  last  taken,  the  total  black  and  col 
ored  population  was  only  361,657;  and  if  the  esti 
mate  of  mortality  by  cholera  and  small-pox  within  a 
few  years  past  be  correct,  I  do  not  believe,  after  mak 
ing  every  allowance  for  a  proper  increase  by  birth, 
that  the  black  and  colored  population  of  Jamaica  ex 
ceeds  at  the  present  day  350,000.  It  will  be  remark 
ed,  and  possibly  with  surprise,  that  the  population  of 
Jamaica,  between  1834  and  1844,  must  have  annual 
ly  decreased  at  the  rate  of  nearly  a  half  per  cent. 
This  decrease,  it  is  true,  is  nothing  like  the  decrease 
that  went  on  prior  to  emancipation,  but  it  is  sufficient 
ly  serious  to  demonstrate  the  existence  of  some  very 
aggravating  causes  of  mortality  among  a  people  of 
temperate  habits,  and  in  a  climate  of  unquestioned 
salubrity.  In  the  absence  of  statistics  on  the  sub 
ject,  it  is  impossible  to  arrive  at  exact  conclusions ; 
indeed,  official  neglect  in  all  matters  statistical  is  so 
conspicuous  that  I  am  not  disposed  to  place  implicit 
faith  in  the  returns  of  the  census  itself.  But  suppos 
ing  a  decline,  undoubted  as  I  believe  it  to  be,  fully 


246      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

established,  I  do  not  think  it  difficult  to  assign  more 
than  one  reason.  Within  a  quarter  of  a  century 
some  15,000  whites  have  withdrawn  from  the  island, 
and  the  increase  of  half-castes  has  been,  in  conse 
quence,  greatly  checked.  Another  important  cause 
of  the  decrease  of  population,  particularly  among  the 
blacks,  is  the  lack  of  medical  practitioners  in  remote 
country  districts.  The  mortality  among  children  from 
want  of  proper  attention  is  frightful.  Nor,  unfortu 
nately,  is  this  the  only  evil  that  deprives  Jamaica  of 
a  legitimate  increase  in  her  population,  and  of  the 
wealth  that  such  an  increase  would  of  necessity  bring. 
Many  of  the  vices  engendered  by  slavery  remain  a 
heavy  burden  and  curse  upon  society,  and,  among 
them,  immorality  of  the  grossest  kind  pervades  all 
classes,  tainting  alike  the  civilization  of  towns  and 
the  unchecked  intercourse  of  laborers  in  the  cane- 
fields.  The  natural  growth  of  the  population  has 
been  thus  arrested,  and  some  of  the  most  detestable 
crimes  known  to  society  are,  even  now,  of  frequent 
occurrence. 

Perhaps  it  is  not  fair  to  judge  the  people  of  Jamai 
ca  by  a  standard  of  European  or  American  civiliza 
tion.  Their  recent  deliverance  from  a  rule  that  frown 
ed  down  morality  and  education,  and  the  very  few 
opportunities  for  improvement  that  have  been  since 
allowed  them,  would  explain,  if  they  did  not  palliate, 
deficiencies  and  shortcomings  of  a  graver  character, 
and  much  more  widespread  existence,  than  those 
which  have  so  deeply  injured  the  reputation  of  the 
West  Indian  Creole.  But  Jamaica,  with  all  her  faults 
of  omission  and  commission,  offers,  I  believe,  the  best 
examples  that  can  be  produced  of  the  emancipated 


THE   BRITISH   WEST  INDIES.  247 

negro ;  her  inhabitants  are  more  independent  and  bet 
ter  off  than  the  inhabitants  of  other  islands,  in  which 
overcrowded  labor  or  a  less  productive  soil  have  kept 
the  masses  in  the  same  position  that  they  occupied  as 
slaves.  Here  the  masses  have  made  a  great  step  for 
ward  ;  and  my  object  in  the  present  chapter  is  to  meas 
ure  that  step — to  describe  the  present  civil  and  social 
condition  of  the  people,  and  compare  it  with  their 
condition  at  the  time  of  emancipation. 

In  a  material  sense  we  have  the  spectacle  presented 
of  a  large  body  of  ignorant,  penniless  predials,  ele 
vated,  by  their  own  exertions,  to  the  rank  of  landed 
proprietors,  tax-payers,  and  voters.  Of  the  320,000 
slaves  that  were  liberated,  only  the  tradesmen  and 
head  people,  numbering  not  more  than  45,000,  had 
ever  picked  up  the  merest  waifs  of  knowledge.  The 
others — field-laborers  and  domestics — were  almost  as 
savage  and  untutored  as  their  fathers  were  when  they 
were  dragged  from  their  homes  on  the  African  coast. 
The  change  they  have  undergone  within  twenty-two 
years  is  assuredly  no  sign  of  incapacity,  no  proof  of 
indolence,  no  indication  of  unconquerable  vice.  At 
the  lowest  estimate  that  I  have  heard  given,  there  are 
now,  in  the  island  of  Jamaica,  fifty  thousand  small 
proprietors,  owning,  on  an  average,  three  acres  of  land. 
The  improvement  in  their  condition  of  life  even  a 
champion  of  plantocracy  would  not  ask  me  to  point 
out.  Yet  these  are  the  men  whom,  under  a  strange 
and  fatal  misunderstanding  of  their  true  interests,  the 
planters  would  force  back  to  field  labor.  The  plant 
ers — I  speak  of  them  as  they  exhibited  themselves  to 
the  world  some  few  years  ago — struck  out  no  new 
path,  nor  devised,  in  a  patriotic  spirit,  any  compre- 


248     THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

hensive  measure  to  meet  and  neutralize  the  deficiency 
of  labor  of  which  they  complained ;  but  they  schemed 
to  deprive  the  independent  settlers  of  their  means  of 
livelihood,  to  destroy  their  market,  and  compel  them 
to  accept  again  the  shilling  a  day  and  the  slavery  of 
plantation- work  that  the  master  condescendingly  offer 
ed.  It  was  fortunate  for  all  parties  that  these  schemes 
proved  a  total  failure. 

The  latest  Blue-book  returns  give  the  number  of 
males  and  females  engaged  in  agriculture  at  187,000 
— more  than  one  half  of  the  population  of  the  island- 
tending  in  itself  to  disprove  the  assertion  that  the  peo 
ple  are  averse  to  the  tillage  of  the  soil ;  but  when  the 
farther  fact  appears  that  out  of  this  number  50,000 
men,  with  their  families,  have  elevated  themselves  to 
a  proprietary  rank,  it  speaks  volumes,  not  merely  in 
their  own  favor,  but  in  favor  of  general  intelligence 
and  a  wholesome  progress.  These  small  proprietors 
can  not  be  said  to  live  comfortably,  in  our  sense  of 
the  word.  Their  huts  are  usually  made  of  bamboo- 
sticks,  thatched  with  cocoanut-leaves.  Most  of  them 
prefer  the  floor  to  sleep  upon,  and  few  understand  the 
enjoyment  of  a  regular  meal.  They  eat  when  they 
are  hungry,  and  will  sometimes  take  enough  in  the 
morning  to  last  them  the  entire  day.  But  I  have  al 
ways  found  them  clean  in  their  personal  and  domestic 
arrangements. 

I  have  spoken,  in  former  chapters,  of  dwellings  very 
superior  to  these  here  mentioned.  I  am  now  attempt 
ing  to  describe  the  social  condition  of  an  average  Ja 
maica  peasant,  owning  one  or  two  acres,  though  I 
think  a  majority  are  proprietors  of  five  and  six.  They 
grow  provisions  for  themselves  and  families,  and  for 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  249 

the  village  market ;  they  raise  for  sale  coffee,  pimen 
to,  arrow-root,  fruit,  vegetables,  and  sometimes  sugar 
cane  ;  they  have  their  horses  and  stock,  and  are  about 
as  independent  of  labor  for  daily  wages  as  it  is  possi 
ble  for  any  peasantry  to  be.  Yet  there  are  many  of 
them  who  give  to  the  estates  such  labor  as  they  can 
spare  from  their  own  properties.  It  is  a  transient  la 
bor,  with  which  we  can  not  expect  the  planter  to  be 
satisfied,  for  it  is  insufficient  for  his  purposes ;  but  it 
is  a  labor  which  reflects  no  discredit  upon  the  people, 
and  offers  no  justification  for  the  complaints  that  have 
been  maliciously  made  against  them.  Statistics  of 
exports  have  been  brought  forward  to  exhibit  the  de 
cline  of  Jamaica.  Statistics  of  exports  can  also  be 
adduced  in  proof  of  the  rise  and  progress  of  a  middle 
class.  I  note  here  some  of  the  minor  articles  grown 
or  collected  now  exclusively  by  small  settlers,  and  in 
stitute  a  comparison  between  the  exportation  in  1859 
and  the  exportation  before  emancipation  had  taken 
effect : 

Exports— 1834.        Exports— 1859. 

Logwood,  tons 8,432  14,006 

Fustic,  tons 2,126  2,329 

Mahogany,  feet 1,936  35,000 

Succades,  cwt none.  279 

Cocoanuts,  number none.  712,913 

Ebony,  tons none.  28 

Beeswax,  cwt none.  770 

Honey,  gallons none.  G,954 

Here  we  have  the  production  of  some  minor  staples 
by  small  settlers  compared  with  the  production  of  the 
same  articles  by  large  proprietors  prior  to  emancipa 
tion,  when  attention  was  almost  altogether  turned  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  cane.  The  exhibit  speaks  for 

L2 


250      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

itself.  It  is  to  be  noticed  that  in  1855  there  were 
124,000  feet  of  mahogany  exported,  and  that  the  Ja 
maica  woods  are  being  fast  drained  of  this  valuable 
timber.  In  the  article  of  pimento  it  is  also  worthy 
of  note  that  the  exportation  in  1858  exceeded  by  two 
million  pounds  any  yearly  exportation  prior  to  eman 
cipation.  To  show  the  progress  made  by  the  people 
of  Jamaica  under  freedom,  I  institute  again  a  compar 
ison  as  follows : 

Exports— 1841.       Exports— 1858. 

Arrow-root,  Ibs none.  72,023 

Logwood,  tons 9,550  12,558 

Fustic,  tons 394  1,G38 

Santa,  or  Shrub,  gallons none.  129 

Beeswax,  Ibs none.  88,967 

Honey,  gallons none.  8,108 

Cocoanuts,  number none.  784,422 

It  is  but  fair  to  exhibit  here  the  decreased  exporta 
tion  of  principal  staples  under  emancipation,  viz. : 

1841.  1845.  1858. 

Sugar,  hhds 34,000  47,926  33,031 

Rum,  puncheons.        11,769  16,997  18,193 

Ginger,  Ibs 1,834,120  1,888,480  709,620 

Pimento, Ibs 3,595,380  7,181,220  9,465,261 

Coffee,  Ibs 6,433,370  5,021,209  5,237,689 

I  have  selected  the  year  1841  for  a  comparison,  as 
the  general  withdrawal  of  field  laborers  from  estate- 
service  had  not  then  commenced.  The  sugar-crop  of 
that  season  was  unusually  light ;  in  1842  it  amounted 
to  50,000  hhds.  But  the  diminution  of  later  years 
proves  nothing  against  the  peasantry  when  it  appears 
that  the  energy  and  industry  employed  during  slavery, 
and  since,  to  produce  large  crops  of  coffee  and  sugar 


THE  BEITISH  WEST  INDIES.  251 

are,  under  freedom,  exerted,  even  in  a  greater  degree, 
to  purchase  land  and  erect  houses  and  villages,  of 
which  the  number  established  in  Jamaica  within  a 
quarter  of  a  century  is  almost  incredible.  The  im 
mense  quantity  of  provisions  that  the  settlers  grow  for 
home  consumption  must  also  be  taken  into  account ; 
and  it  is  partly  demonstrated  by  the  diminished  im 
portation  of  necessary  articles  of  food,  as  illustrated  in 
the  following  table : 

Imports— 1841.          Imports— 1S58. 

Flour,  bbls 127,820  94,038 

Meal,  bbls 25.995  14,081 

Bread,  bbls 16,000  none. 

Bread,  cwt 2,202  3,024 

Corn,  bushels 83,718  20,704 

Beef,  bbls 3,455  3,024 

Pork,  bbls 21,185  12,012 

There  is,  indeed,  a  vast  difference  between  the  liv 
ing  of  the  free  peasantry  of  Jamaica  and  the  living  of 
her  slaves.  The  people  enjoy  luxuries  now  where 
they  had  not  common  necessaries  before.  The  coffee, 
vegetables,  and  meat  that  are  now  indispensable  to 
them,  they  never  so  much  as  tasted  before  they  were 
emancipated.  A  settler  with  an  acre  of  land  in  culti 
vation  estimates  its  value  at  £30  sterling  a  year.  He 
grows  upon  it,  at  the  same  time,  corn,  yams,  cocoas, 
plantains,  bananas,  tobacco,  peas,  ochro,  coffee,  and 
even  sugar-cane.  An  acre  or  two  like  this  will  sup 
port  a  family  of  seven  in  clothes  and  provisions,  and 
enable  the  proprietor  to  save  money  besides.  I  know 
settlers  who  have  accumulated  by  this,  and  no  other 
means,  £80  and  £100,  and  the  sum  is  generally  de 
voted  to  the  erection  of  improved  dwellings.  Of 
course  their  work  is  not  as  well  directed  or  as  valua- 


252      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ble  now  as  it  was  before  emancipation.  They  are 
poor  farmers  as  yet.  All  their  agricultural  learning 
has  come  to  them  by  instinct.  Digging  cane-holes  was 
the  early  experience  of  most  of  them.  They  have  not 
the  remotest  idea  of  economy  in  labor.  Their  imple 
ments  are  of  the  most  primitive  kind,  and  it  is  sur 
prising  to  find  how  many  of  them  manage  to  manufac 
ture  sugar.  I  know  of  settlers  who  produce,  from 
four  or  five  acres,  some  forty  barrels  of  sugar,  weigh 
ing  two  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  each.  They  obtain 
the  juice  from  the  cane  by  hand-work,  and  I  can  not 
describe  their  rude  wooden  implement  better  than  by 
calling  it  a  huge  lemon-squeezer.  Their  preparation 
of  coffee  is  less  primitive.  An  ingenious  mechanic 
of  Kingston  has  invented  a  cheap  coffee-cleaner,  and 
he  informed  me  that  he  sold  numbers  of  them.  His 
best  customers,  he  said,  were  negroes,  who  always 
came  cash  in  hand.  But  in  all  they  grow  they  may 
be  held  to  waste  five  times  as  much  as  they  reap. 
They  are  not  an  ingenious  people,  but  they  are  an  in 
telligent  people,  and  will  imitate  with  the  greatest 
alacrity.  They  see  the  planter's  partiality  for  the 
cultivation  of  sugar,  and  they  at  once  determine  to 
have  their  little  cane-piece  also.  Of  a  thousand  things 
indigenous  to  Jamaica  that  might  be  raised  with 
great  profit  and  no  expense,  they  are  as  ignorant  as 
children.  They  never  reason  out  the  fact  that  their 
soil  is  probably  the  richest  in  the  world,  and  that 
with  five  acres,  and  knowledge  to  assist  them,  they 
could  produce  as  much  as  they  do  now  with  fifty 
acres  and  no  knowledge.  An  acre  of  good  Jamaica 
land  can  be  made  to  yield  thirty  tons  of  grass,  or  five 
hogsheads  of  sugar.  I  have  seen  the  experiment  sue- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  253 

cessfully  tried.  The  soil,  for  general  purposes,  needs 
little  attention,  and  four  crops  of  provisions  are  gath 
ered  in  the  year.  But  the  people  have  no  opportuni 
ties  to  learn.  No  friendly  settler  from  abroad  has 
ever  appeared  among  them  to  stimulate  their  exer 
tions  by  showing  them  what  science  has  accomplish 
ed  in  other  lands.  They  know  nothing  of  what  pass 
es  beyond  the  limits  of  their  island.  They  are  utterly 
without  training.  A  spirit  of  emulation  has  never 
been  generated  among  them.  They  have  no  cause 
for  rivalry,  and  nothing  to  call  out  their  ambition. 
They  may  thank  the  planters  for  adopting  a  system 
of  persecution  which  literally  drove  them  into  their 
present  independent  position.  Their  singular  adhe 
sion  to  the  estates  upon  which  they  were  born  ren 
dered  it  very  improbable  that  any  but  the  most  en 
lightened  would  have  ever  voluntarily  forsaken  them 
for  an  uncertain  venture.  They  went  into  the  mount 
ains,  built  their  own  huts,  and  cleared  their  own 
lands,  and,  from  that  time  to  this,  they  have  worked 
steadily  up  to  their  light.  It  is  not  their  fault  that 
that  light  is  weak,  for  they  only  conquered  their  in 
dependence  and  all  the  knowledge  they  have  acquired 
in  the  face  of  determined  opposition,  and  in  defiance 
of  hostile  legislation.  Let  me  not  be  mistaken.  I  am 
-  not  setting  up  the  West  Indian  Creole  as  an  object 
for  hero-worship.  I  do  not  place  him  on  an  equality 
with  the  American  or  the  Englishman.  His  courage 
to  face  labor,  his  perseverence  under  difficulty,  and 
his  power  to  overcome  obstacles  are  but  hesitating, 
halting  steps  when  compared  with  the  Anglo-Saxon's 
rapid  and  determined  strides.  I  do  not  say,  because 
I  do  not  know,  how  far  judicious  training  will  rem- 


254      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

edj  the  negro's  defects  of  character  and  judgment. 
I  simply  vindicate  his  actions  as  those  of  a  reasonable 
and  intelligent  being,  fully  capable  of  comprehending 
his  own  interests,  of  managing  his  own  business,  and 
of  appreciating  the  blessings  of  freedom.  I  think 
that  the  position  of  the  Jamaica  peasant  in  1860  is  a 
standing  rebuke  to  those  who,  wittingly  or  unwitting 
ly,  encourage  the  vulgar  lie  that  the  African  can  not 
possibly  be  elevated.  The  American  writer  who 
could  be  found  to  say  that  "any  attempt  to  improve 
his  condition  was  warring  against  an  immutable  law 
of  Nature,"  should  visit  this  island  and  study  more 
closely  the  object  of  his  sage  conclusion.  I  think  the 
Creoles  of  Jamaica  have  disproved,  by  their  own  acts, 
the  calumny  of  a  hostile  interest,  that  they  do  not 
work.  The  most  ignorant  work  whenever  they  can 
get  work.  There  are  fully  twenty  thousand,  of  both 
sexes,  who  work  for  the  estates,  and  who  may  still  be 
regarded  as  a  laboring  class.  There  are  probably  ten 
thousand  who  work  as  domestics.  There  are  three 
thousand  at  work  now  upon  the  roads,  where  scarcity 
and  idleness  of  laborers  are  made  no  grounds  of  com 
plaint.  The  small  proprietors  work  on  their  own 
lands  and  on  the  estates  also  whenever  they  can. 
Very  large  numbers  work  as  merchants,  mechanics, 
and  tradesmen,  and  not  a  few  of  the  ex-slaves  of  Ja 
maica,  or  their  children,  are  members  of  the  Legisla 
ture,  and  fill  responsible  offices  under  government. 
In  the  Assembly  alone  there  are  seventeen  black  and 
colored  members  out  of  a  total  of  forty-seven.  The 
whole  people  of  Jamaica  work  ;  and  if  their  work  is 
often  misdirected  and  wasteful,  the  blame  does  not 
surely  rest  with  the  unlettered  classes.  They  work, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  255 

as  I  said  before,  np  to  the  light  they  possess,  and 
when  I  look  at  the  feebleness  of  that  light,  I  am  ut 
terly  amazed  at  the  progress  they  have  made. 

It  would  be  false  to  deny  that  the  most  deplorable 
ignorance  prevails  throughout  the  lower  orders  of  so 
ciety,  and  especially  among  the  field  laborers.  How 
could  it  be  otherwise  when  the  planter's  policy  has 
been  to  keep  the  people  uninstructed,  and  the  govern 
ment  has  never  even  encouraged  education,  much  less 
insisted  upon  it  as  one  of  the  most  important  of  recip 
rocal  duties  between  a  free  state  and  its  citizens.  No 
general  system  of  public  instruction  has  been  intro 
duced  in  Jamaica,  and  it  is  surely  unreasonable  to  ex 
pect  that  this  people,  or  any  other  people,  could  ac 
quire  a  knowledge  that  has  never  been  placed  within 
they-  reach.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  65,000 
children  in  Jamaica  between  the  ages  of  five  and  fif 
teen,  and  for  their  education  the  Legislature  voted 
last  year  the  sum  of  £2950 — less  than  a  shilling  for 
the  instruction  of  each  child  during  a  space  of  twelve 
months.  About  7000  scholars  were  benefited  by  this 
grant,  the  schools  in  connection  with  the  Church  of 
England  getting  two  thirds,  and  the  Dissenters  one 
third,  although  five  persons  go  to  "chapel"  where  one 
goes  to  "  church."  The  total  number  of  scholars  re 
ceiving  instruction  at  the  present  time  is  barely  20,000 ; 
and  of  these  13,000  are  educated  by  different  charities, 
missions,  and  private  subscriptions.  It  is  deemed  dis 
courteous  "  to  look  a  gift  horse  in  the  mouth,"  and  the 
Creoles  of  Jamaica,  I  suppose,  must  he  thankful  for 
the  crumbs  of  learning  they  are  allowed  to  pick  up. 
The  Presbyterian,  Wesleyan,  Moravian,  Baptist,  Inde 
pendent,  and,  though  last,  not  least,  the  American 


256      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

Missions,  are  all  doing  good  in  their  way.  Within 
four  years  past  the  number  of  scholars  attending  their 
schools  has  considerably  increased,  while  within  one 
year  past  the  number  of  scholars  attending  the  schools 
supported  by  government  has  decreased  nearly  thirty 
per  cent.  But  all  these  schools  are  of  a  sectarian 
character.  If  they  do  good  they  also  do  harm,  by  en 
couraging  a  sectarian  prejudice,  most  injurious,  in  my 
judgment,  to  the  best  interests  of  the  negro  popula 
tion.  At  the  present  moment  there  are  populous  dis 
tricts  in  the  island  without  any  schools  at  all,  and  oth 
ers  where  the  schools  already  in  existence  are  in  debt, 
unable  to  pay  for  teachers,  and  will  be  compelled  to 
close  unless  they  receive  some  timely  assistance.  If 
this  neglect  to  instruct  the  rising  generation  is  so 
glaring  to-day,  when  civilization  every  where  admits 
the  principle  that  a  free  government  can  only  rest  on 
the  basis  of  popular  intelligence,  how  much  greater 
was  the  neglect  ten  or  twenty  years  ago,  when  the 
education  of  the  masses  in  Jamaica  was  deemed  un 
necessary  and  impolitic  ?  The  natural  intelligence  of 
the  negro  is  not  disputed,  at  least  in  this  island ;  why 
not,  then,  improve  it?  The  desire  of  the  people  to 
learn  can  not  be  denied,  with  the  fact  in  view  that 
200,000  out  of  a  population  of  350,000  attend  the  dif 
ferent  places  of  worship  every  Sabbath  day.  It  is 
only  at  the  point  where  the  moral  responsibility  of 
the  untutored  negro  ceases  and  the  duty  of  the  gov 
ernment  begins,  that  we  find  a  deplorable  lack  of  com 
mon  prudence  and  common  sense.  The  old  plantoc- 
racy,  with  wretched  foresight,  opposed  the  training 
and  education  of  a  people  upon  whose  training  and 
education  their  own  prosperity  depended,  and  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  257 

governing  classes  of  to-day  seem  inclined  to  follow 
their  example.  If  they  do,  they  can  only  reap  the 
same  bitter  disappointment.  When  government  fails, 
as  it  fails  in  Jamaica,  to  care  for  human  life,  and  to  see 
with  unaccountable  apathy  the  country  destitute  of 
medical  aid,  it  is  not  surprising  that  the  population, 
should  exhibit  an  annual  decrease.  When  govern 
ment  fails,  as  it  fails  in  Jamaica,  to  give  any  consid 
eration  to  popular  education,  it  is  not  surprising  that 
vice  and  immorality  should  alarmingly  prevail.  Un 
der  a  rule  of  such  pernicious  neglect,  it  is  not  surpris 
ing  that  the  governor,  in  proroguing  the  legislative 
session  of  1858,  should  say  that  "in  many  of  the  coun 
ty  districts  the  people  are  abandoned  to  the  spells  and 
debasing  superstitions  of  the  working  Obeah  and  My- 
alism,  and  to  the  scarcely  less  injurious  practices  of 
other  ignorant  empirics  of  the  lowest  grade."  I  am 
only  surprised  that  the  great  middle  class  of  Jamaica 
— the  small  landed  proprietors,  the  mechanics  and 
tradesmen  of  the  island — should  have  been  able,  in 
the  face  of  so  many  obstacles  and  such  mountains  of 
opposition,  to  compass  the  difficulties  that  surrounded 
them,  and  emerge  from  a  darkness  that  still  envelops 
many  of  their  less  fortunate  and  weaker  brethren. 

If  I  have  presented  a  faithful  picture  of  the  civil 
and  social  condition  of  the  Jamaica  Creoles,  the  read 
er  will  infer  that  education  in  the  island  is  too  partial, 
and  general  intelligence  too  limited,  for  the  establish 
ment  of  a  purely  democratic  government.  Universal 
suffrage  must  fail  where  the  mass  of  the  people  are 
unenlightened.  It  seems  to  me  that  the  very  best 
form  of  government  for  Jamaica  is  the  one  on  the 
British  model  that  she  now  enjoys.  Every  voter  has 


258       THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

a  stake  in  the  country.  His  intelligence  and  industry 
are  to  a  certain  extent  guaranteed  by  the  required 
property  qualification.  The  election  law  now  in  force, 
and  passed  in  1858,  is  a  decided  improvement  on  pre 
vious  enactments  of  a  similar  nature.  Under  its  pro 
visions  a  voter  must  possess  a  freehold  of  a  clear 
rental  of  £6  sterling  a  year,  or  he  must  pay  £20  rent, 
or  have  an  annual  income  derivable  from  business  of 
£50,  or,  finally,  he  must  pay  taxes  to  the  extent  of  £2 
per  annum.  There  are  probably  50,000  freeholders 
in  Jamaica  with  a  clear  income  of  £6  a  year,  but  the 
number  of  actual  voters  does  not  exceed  3000.  A  tax 
of  ten  shillings  per  capita  for  registration  explains  the 
discrepancy.  The  negro  does  not  care  so  much  about 
voting  as  to  be  willing  to  pay  government  ten  shil 
lings  for  the  privilege.  The  principle  of  taxing  a  vote 
may  not  be  considered  orthodox ;  but  it  is  the  only 
tax  to  which  the  country  people  are  liable,  and  I  am 
satisfied  that  the  plan  will  work  better  in  Jamaica 
than  one  which  would  throw  open  the  polls,  without 
discrimination,  to  the  entire  population. 

Of  past  Legislatures  I  need  scarcely  speak,  after 
having  exhibited  some  of  the  duties  they  have  failed 
to  perform.  But  it  must  not  be  supposed  that  Jamaica 
legislation  is  perfect  now,  because  it  is  no  longer  the 
exclusive  prerogative  of  the  plantocracy.  It  is,  in 
fact,  most  wretchedly  imperfect.  Planters,  too,  of  the 
right  sort,  are  much  needed  in  both  houses.  The  isl 
and  depends — no  one  can  doubt  the  fact — upon  the 
extension  of  sugar-cultivation  for  a  revival  of  pros 
perity.  The  sugar  interest  must  always  be  a  predom 
inating  interest.  The  error,  in  times  past,  was  believ 
ing  it  to  be  an  exclusive  interest.  But  the  men  who 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  259 

represent  it  must  utterly  forsake  the  policy  of  their 
predecessors,  and  leave  the  track  in  which  they  fan 
cied  they  might  forever  travel.  The  work  of  devel 
oping  the  resources  of  Jamaica  has  yet  to  be  perform 
ed,  but  it  will  never  be  performed  by  non-resident 
planters.  It  must  be  done  by  men  who  can  consent 
to  make  the  island  their  home ;  and  if  it  is  not  done 
by  whites,  it  will  be  done  by  blacks.  But  the  gov 
erning  classes  have  to  learn,  above  all  things,  that  the 
extension  of  knowledge  is  the  truest  political  econo 
my,  and  that  one  intelligent  free  man  will  contribute 
more  toward  the  prosperity  of  a  country  than  a  dozen 
ignorant  serfs. 

The  government  of  Jamaica  is  possibly  better  than 
the  pure  oligarchy  of  Barbados ;  but  the  latter  island 
has  advantages  in  a  dense  population  that  the  former 
does  not  possess.  In  Barbados  the  plantocracy  are 
still  able  to  rule  as  they  please ;  in  Jamaica  they  have 
been  borne  down  by  an  independent  middle  class, 
who  would  not  be  denied  their  rights  or  defrauded  of 
their  privileges.  In  Barbados  the  prejudices  of  caste 
are  bitter  in  the  extreme ;  in  Jamaica  they  exist  in  a 
modified  form.  But  they  must  be  swept  away  entire 
ly  if  the  colony  is  ever  to  attain  a  position  of  enlight 
ened  prosperity,  and  a  "  brown  party,"  a  "  black  par 
ty,"  or  a  "  white  party"  must  be  discarded  from  the 
political  index. 


260      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

FREE  AND  SLAVE  LABOR  IN  JAMAICA. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

THE  superior  economy  of  free  labor,  as  compared 
with  slave  labor,  can  be  demonstrated  even  from  the 
imperfections  and  shortcomings  of  Jamaica.  The 
planter,  who  complains  the  loudest  against  the  parent 
government  for  admitting  slave-grown  sugars  on  a 
par  with  free-grown  sugars,  does  not  deny  that  free 
labor  is  the  cheaper  of  the  two.  He  attributes  his 
misfortunes  to  the  abolition  of  one  system  without  a 
corresponding  introduction  of  the  other.  He  offers  to 
compete  with  slave  labor  provided  he  can  command  a 
sufficient  supply  of  free  labor.  While  I  believe,  and 
have  already  endeavored  to  show,  that  an  undoubted 
scarcity  of  labor  was  aggravated  by  the  course  the 
planters  themselves  pursued,  and  is  not  to  be  attribu 
ted,  as  some  pretend,  to  Creole  indolence ;  while  the 
planters  of  Jamaica,  as  a  class,  have  been  opposed  to 
improvement,  and,  in  their  obstinate  determination, 
even  at  this  day,  to  follow  the  old  routine,  find  them 
selves,  as  manufacturers  or  agriculturists,  behind  the 
age,  and  from  this  cause  alone  unable  to  compete  with 
the  planters  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Rico ;  while  it  is  cer 
tain  that  the  scanty  laboring  force  of  the  island  is 
not  economized,  and  the  enemies  of  immigration  have 
found  in  the  fact  a  powerful  argument  of  opposition, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  261 

it  is  at  the  same  time  true  that  free  labor  in  Jamaica 
was  never  allowed  a  fair  start.  With  its  present  force 
of  20,000  uncertain  laborers  engaged  in  sugar-cultiva 
tion,  and  utterly  destitute  of  capital,  Jamaica  can  not 
be  considered  the  rival  of  Cuba,  nor  ought  any  con 
clusion  unfavorable  to  free  labor  be  deduced  from  the 
depression  of  the  one  and  the  high  prosperity  of  the 
other.  It  is  not  a  competition  between  slave  and  free 
labor,  but,  practically,  between  slave  labor  and  no  la 
bor  at  all.  And  herein  we  find  a  state  of  things  for 
which  the  imperial  government  is,  in  a  measure,  re 
sponsible.  It  was  not  that  they  committed  the  daz 
zling  mistake  of  a  too  sudden  emancipation ;  it  was 
not  that  they  withdrew  protection  from  the  infant  sys 
tem,  and  left  it  unaided  to  fight  out  the  battle,  but  that 
they  cut  off  the  re-enforcements  which,  in  a  sparsely- 
settled  country,  free  labor  imperatively  and  constantly 
demands ;  they  refused  supplies  of  labor,  more  needed 
in  Jamaica  than  in  northern  colonies,  and  without 
which  even  the  most  enduring  energy  would  have 
been  compelled  to  halt  in  the  race  for  empire.  It  is 
folly  to  dream  over  the  mistakes  of  British  emanci 
pation  if  we  fail  to  read  in  them  a  practical  lesson ; 
and  such  a  lesson  as  will  benefit  Jamaica  at  the  elev 
enth  hour  is  yet  to  be  learnt.  By  the  light  of  experi 
ence  we  are  able  now  to  see  that  if  a  free  immigration 
had  been  poured  into  the  island  before  abolition — if 
free  labor  had  been  introduced  to  fight  slave  labor  on 
its  own  ground — slave  labor  must  have  been  defeated 
in  the  contest ;  and  no  violent  revolution  would  have 
marked  its  extinction.  If  free  immigration  had  been 
poured  into  Jamaica  after  abolition,  there  can  not  be  a 
reasonable  doubt  that  the  island  would  have  been  re- 


262      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

deemed  from  bankruptcy,  and  from  other  burdens  laid 
upon  it  by  a  slave  system  and  the  peculiar  aristocracy 
that  it  fostered.  Other  colonies  have  thus  regained 
their  lost  position.  Other  colonies  establish  beyond  a 
peradventure  the  superior  economy  of  free  labor,  and 
even  Jamaica,  exceptional  Jamaica,  with  its  ruined 
proprietary  and  scanty  population — desolate,  deserted, 
degraded  Jamaica,  points  feebly  to  the  same  result. 

Before  I  produce  figures  on  the  labor  question  of 
Jamaica,  I  will  admit  that  they  are  to  be  obtained 
with  difficulty,  and  must  be  received  with  caution. 
Statistics  of  all  kinds  are  imperfect,  and  there  is  not 
an  agricultural  return  to  be  found  among  the  pro 
ceedings  of  the  Assembly  for  twenty-five  years  back. 
This  neglect  is  the  more  deplorable,  as  information 
from  every  estate  in  the  island  is  required  for  a  solid 
and  reliable  basis  of  legislation.  Plantation  manage 
ment  in  Jamaica  is  a  confusion  of  contradictions. 
The  books  of  a  south-side  sugar-estate  would  give  no 
adequate  idea  of  the  cost  of  manufacture  on  a  north- 
side  estate,  and  neither  would  be  applicable  to  an  es 
tate  in  the  interior.  I  myself  know  of  cases  where 
the  expense  of  producing  a  hogshead  of  sugar  has 
been  £4,  and  of  others  where  the  expense  has  been 
double  and  treble  that  amount.  So,  too,  I  know  of 
cases  where  the  planter  has  been  in  distress  for  labor, 
and  of  cases  where  the  laborer  has  been  in  distress  for 
work.  Most  positive  assertions  of  a  most  opposite 
character  and  tendency  are  violently  made  by  persons 
who  ought  to  know  the  truth,  if  they  could  divest 
themselves  of  prejudice ;  and  it  is  not,  therefore,  sur 
prising  to  hear  so  many  contradictory  opinions  on  the 
labor  question  expressed  abroad,  when  so  many  con- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  263 

tradictory  opinions  are  entertained  within  the  island 
itself.  While  I  am  tempted  to  make  an  estimate  of 
the  cost  of  sugar-production  in  Jamaica,  I  am,  at  the 
same  time,  free  to  admit  that  estates  in  districts  where 
labor  is  scarce  will  think  my  average  below,  while 
others,  well  stocked  with  labor,  will  deem  it  above  the 
mark.  I  can  only  say  to  this  that  my  sole  object  has 
been  to  arrive  at  the  truth — that  my  information  has 
been  obtained  from  intelligent  sources — and  that  when 
ever  I  am  proved  wrong  I  shall  be  most  willing  to 
acknowledge  the  error. 

Every  planter  in  Jamaica  knows  from  his  own 
books,  if  they  go  back  far  enough,  that  free  labor  is 
cheaper  than  slave  labor.  He  knows  that  the  culti 
vation  of  an  acre  of  cane  does  not  now  cost  him  $40, 
when  in  other  times  it  cost  him  $80.  He  knows  that, 
under  slavery,  the  cost  of  digging  an  acre  of  cane- 
holes  was  from  $35  to  $45,  while,  under  freedom,  it  is 
from  $8  to  $15.  He  knows  that  under  one  system 
30  per  cent,  of  his  laboring  force  were  non-effectives, 
and  had  to  be  fed  and  clothed  like  the  rest,  while  un 
der  freedom  no  work  is  paid  for  that  is  not  actually 
performed.  He  knows  that  a  free  laborer  is  not  bought 
with  a  sum  that  can  be  otherwise  laid  out  at  profitable 
interest — that  ten  and  even  fifteen  per  cent,  are  allow 
ances  no  longer  to  be  made  for  death  and  deprecia 
tion.  These  are  facts  readily  admitted ;  any  one  who 
takes  the  trouble  to  think  about  them  will  see  their 
force ;  but  it  is  not  so  readily  admitted  that  Jamaica 
planters,  in  spite  of  the  great  scarcity  of  labor,  have 
it  in  their  power  to  produce  sugar  at  a  cheaper  cost 
than  it  is  produced  in  Cuba  and  Porto  Eico,  and  much 
cheaper  than  it  was  produced  by  their  predecessors 


264      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

before  they  quietly  accepted  the  destiny  of  ruin  which 
they  considered  impossible  to  avert,  and  the  merest 
folly  to  fight  against. 

The  average  exportation  of  sugar  from  the  island 
of  Jamaica  during  the  past  few  years  has  been  about 
fifty  millions  of  pounds,  and  of  rum  about  eighteen 
thousand  puncheons.  I  estimate  the  laboring  force 
on  the  estates  at  twenty  thousand — about  equal  to  the 
number  of  acres  in  cane-cultivation.  This  would  give 
some  sixty  or  seventy  laborers  to  each  estate.  I  have 
received  this  estimate  from  many  reliable  sources,  and 
believe  it  to  be  as  near  the  truth  as  it  is  possible  to 
get  in  the  absence  of  precise  returns.  But  it  must 
not  be  imagined  that  these  are  steady  laborers,  work 
ing  on  the  same  estates  from  year's  end  to  year's  end. 
Many  of  them  are  perpetually  on  the  move,  others 
only  work  on  estates  for  a  month  or  two  out  of  the 
twelve ;  some  offer  their  services  when  they  are  least 
wanted ;  some  have  provision-grounds  of  their  own, 
which  require  their  attention  when  the  estates  are 
most  hardly  pressed  for  labor;  nearly  all,  if  they 
chose,  might  be  independent  of  the  planter  for  their 
daily  bread.  .  Jamaica  labor  is  essentially  of  this  tran 
sient  and  uncertain  character.  It  is  not  the  negro's 
fault ;  very  few  estates  can  afford  to  keep  up  a  large 
and  constant  agricultural  force — that  was  one  of  the 
necessary  extravagances  of  slavery — and  when  the 
crop-season  comes,  and  a  simultaneous  rush  is  made 
upon  the  labor  market,  it  is  found  altogether  inade 
quate  to  the  demand.  The  negro,  who  has  his  own 
acre  to  look  after,  is  bitterly  denounced  by  the  planter 
when  he  is  independent  enough  to  decline  the  high 
wages  which,  during  the  few  weeks  of  crop-time,  the 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  265 

latter  would  doubtless  be  willing  to  pay.  But,  in  my 
judgment,  the  very  fact  that  large  numbers  of  the  ag 
ricultural  population  are  able  to  refuse  the  work  and 
wages  that,  at  certain  seasons,  the  planters  offer,  is  to 
their  credit  rather  than  to  their  shame.  When,  there 
fore,  I  estimate  the  actual  laboring  force  at  twenty 
thousand,  I  mean  that  this  is  the  number  usually  em 
ployed  on  the  sugar-estates  throughout  the  year. 
There  are  possibly  forty  thousand  laborers  in  all  who 
give  transient  work  to  the  estates,  but  at  one  and  the 
same  time  the  number  actually  at  work,  or  the  num 
ber  that  can  be  commanded,  does  not  average  more 
than  twenty  thousand.  These  twenty  thousand  la 
borers,  taking  them  en  masse,  do  not  work  for  estates 
more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  days  in  the  year, 
sometimes  three  and  sometimes  four  days  in  the  week. 
They  devote  the  balance  of  their  time  to  their  provi 
sion-grounds,  and  go  to  market  on  Saturdays.  When, 
therefore,  it  appears,  from  these  data,  that  each  laborer 
annually  produces  2500  pounds  of  sugar,  and  very 
nearly  a  puncheon  of  rum,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  he  produces  besides,  from  his  own  grounds,  a  suf 
ficient  quantity  of  provisions  to  supply  the  wants  of 
himself  and  family,  and  very  often  a  considerable  sur 
plus  to  sell  at  market. 

I  take  a  high  average  when  I  place  the  price  of  es 
tate  labor  at  thirty  cents  a  day.  A  good  workman 
can  earn  fifty  cents  by  digging  cane-holes,  and  occa 
sionally  by  job-work  he  may  earn  a  dollar;  but  these 
are  exceptional  cases.  No  planter  will  pretend  that 
an  ordinary  field  laborer  can  earn  fifty  or  even  forty 
cents  on  his  estate  all  the  year  round.  I  know  that 
the  highest  price  paid  for  labor  on  the  roads,  or  in  the 

M 


266      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

mines,  is  thirty-six  cents,  and  a  large  majority  receive 
only  twenty-four  cents.  In  nearly  all  the  cases  that 
fell  under  my  own  immediate  observation,  the  price 
of  field  labor  was  twenty-four  cents,  and  I  know  of 
cases  where  labor  could  only  command  eighteen  cents. 
At  thirty  cents,  then,  per  day,  the  laborer  who  pro 
duces  2500  Ibs.  would  receive  $50  for  a  year  of  170 
working-days — or,  to  be  more  exact,  for  a  year  of  167 
working-days — which  establishes  the  average  cost  of 
agricultural  labor  in  Jamaica  sugar-production  at  two 
cents  per  pound. 

We  can  arrive  at  this  conclusion  by  another  process 
of  calculation,  and  from  a  basis  that  may  be  consider 
ed  more  reliable  than  that  of  rough  estimates.  The 
Yere  Agricultural  Society  in  1845  offered  and  award 
ed  prizes  for  the  largest  quantity  of  sugar  made  on 
any  estate  in  the  parish  at  the  least  proportionate  ex 
pense  for  labor  in  cultivation  and  manufacture.  Its 
report  is,  I  believe,  the  only  official  exposition  of  the 
kind  that  has  appeared  since  emancipation.  I  need 
scarcely  add  that  what  could  be  done  in  1845  could 
be  done  now,  and  is  undoubtedly  done  on  many  first- 
class  properties.  The  first  prize  was  awarded  to 
"  New  Yarmouth  Estate."  From  the  return  of  the 
overseer,  it  appeared  that  the  total  expense  of  manu 
facturing  168  hhds.  of  sugar  and  62  puncheons  of  rum 
was  £1038  18s.  7%d.  Deducting  10s.  per  puncheon  as 
the  estimated  cost  of  manufacturing  the  rum,  there 
remains  £1007  18s.  7JcZ.  ($4838  07)  as  the  cost  of  168 
hhds.  of  sugar,  equal  to  $28  80  per  hogshead  of  16  cwt, 
or  1-|  cents  as  the  cost  of  production  per  pound,  labor 
and  manufacture  included.  The  second  prize  was 
awarded  by  the  same  agricultural  society  to  the  es- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  267 

tate  of  "  Caswell  Hill,"  which  manufactured  202  hhds. 
of  sugar  and  105  puncheons  of  rum  for  £1401  4s.  l\d. 
Deducting  as  before  £52  105.,  the  cost  of  rum  manu 
facture,  there  remains  £1348  14s.  7Jc?.  ($6473  91)  as 
the  total  cost,  labor  and  manufacture  included,  of  202 
hhds.,  equal  to  $32  05  per  hogshead,  omitting  frac 
tions,  or  1|  cents  per  pound.  Only  three  estates  com 
peted  for  the  prize.  The  expenses  of  the  third — "Am 
ity  Hall" — far  exceeded  those  of  the  other  two.  It 
manufactured  131  hhds.  and  35  puncheons  for  £1317 
17s.  9c?.  The  total  cost  of  labor  and  manufacture  on 
the  sugar  was  £1300  7s.  9d.  ($6241  86),  equal  to  $47  64 
per  hogshead,  or  2-^j-  cents  per  pound.  It  must  be 
remembered  that  these  are  not  estimates,  but  attested 
statements  of  moneys  actually  expended,  not  merely 
for  agricultural  labor,  but  for  manufacturing  purposes 
also.  My  estimate  of  2  cents  per  pound  for  labor 
alone  is  based  on  the  assertion  of  planters  themselves 
that  they  pay  their  laborers  on  an  average  30  cents  a 
day,  that  the  total  labor  force  of  the  island  is  20,000, 
and  that  the  men  work  about  170  days  in  the  year. 
Taking  an  average  of  the  three  estates  named,  it  will 
be  found  that  the  cost  of  labor  and  manufacture  com 
bined  is  less  by  a  fraction  than  my  estimate  of  the  cost 
of  labor  alone,  and  one  of  two  corrollaries  (both  equal 
ly  creditable  to  the  laborer)  may  be  deduced :  1.  That 
the  proprietors  of  these  estates  paid  less  than  thirty 
cents  a  day  for  work  admitted  to  have  been  most  sat 
isfactorily  performed ;  or,  2.  If  they  paid  thirty  cents 
a  day,  the  number  of  laborers  in  their  employ  must 
have  been  below  the  average,  and  the  production  of 
sugar  per  man,  as  a  necessary  consequence,  exceed 
ingly  above  the  average.  The  production  of  sugar 


268      THE  OEDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

on  the  estates  mentioned  proves  that  the  laborer 
worked  very  fairly  for  very  low  wages,  or  worked 
unusually  hard  for  the  average  hire  of  thirty  cents  a 
day. 

Perhaps  the  illustrations  given  will  be  deemed  ex 
ceptional  cases,  though  I  may  mention  that  the  com 
mittee  in  their  report  "  regretted  exceedingly  that 
there  were  only  three  competitors,  which  obliged  them 
to  award  a  prize  to  Amity  Hall,  the  expenses  of  which 
were  considerably  higher  than  those  of  the  other  two." 
But  I  have  before  me  the  estimates  of  several  practical 
planters,  all  of  whom  agree  in  placing  the  average 
cost  of  purely  agricultural  labor  at  £8  for  an  acre 
yielding  a  hogshead  and  a  half  of  sugar ;  that  is  to 
say,  $38  40  for  2688  Ibs.,  or  l^V  cents  per  Ib.  Tak 
ing,  for  argument's  sake,  1-J  cents  as  an  average  of  the 
cost  of  labor  on  the  Jamaica  sugar-estates,  it  would 
give  an  annual  payment  for  labor  of  $750,000 ;  or,  es 
timating  the  force  at  20,000  laborers,  it  would  place 
the  average  earnings  of  each  man,  during  a  year  of 
170  working-days,  at  $37  10,  or  about  22  cents  per 
diem.  The  man  thus  paid  would,  according  to  these 
figures,  produce  annually  2500  Ibs.  of  sugar,  besides  a 
puncheon  of  rum  and  provisions  for  the  maintenance 
of  himself  and  family — a  positive  exhibition  of  indus 
try  that  disproves  all  vague  assertions  of  general  idle 
ness.  It  does  not  strengthen  the  planting  argument 
to  say  that  the  proprietor  pays  more  than  $37  a  year 
for  wages.  I  am  prepared  to  admit  that  he  does.  But 
when  he  does — and  if  his  own  estimate  for  labor  of  £8 
per  acre  be  correct — the  production  of  each  laborer  is 
proportionately  increased,  and  my  assertion  of  his  in 
dustry  fully  borne  out.  In  any  case  it  will  be  admit- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  269 

ted  that  my  estimate  of  two  cents  per  Ib.  as  the  aver 
age  cost  of  labor  in  Jamaica  sugar-production  is  above 
rather  than  below  the  mark. 

Let  us  now  go  back  to  sugar-cultivation  in  the  days 
of  slavery  and  institute  a  comparison.  The  total  an 
nual  production  for  ten  years  preceding  emancipation 
averaged  160,000,000  Ibs.,  and  the  laboring  force  en 
gaged  in  the  business  was,  during  the  same  period, 
variously  estimated  at  70,000,  80,000,  and  90,000.  I 
will  take  the  lowest  figure.  The  slave  certainly  cost 
his  master  $100  a  year.  The  interest  on  his  value, 
his  food  and  clothing  imported  from  America  and 
Europe,  his  medical  attendance,  the  depreciation  of 
his  value,  and  his  total  extinction  by  death,  were,  with 
the  exception  of  the  first,  all  items  of  heavier  expense 
than  are  now  paid  for  the  Louisiana  slave,  whose  cost 
is  estimated  at  $125  a  year.  Old  planters,  who  have 
lived  in  this  island  under  both  systems,  have  told  me 
that  their  slaves  cost  them  £15  sterling  a  year,  exclu 
sive  of  interest  on  their  value  and  of  a  loss  by  death 
which  averaged  2-J  per  cent,  per  annum.  It  is,  there 
fore,  demonstrable  from  these  data  that,  under  the  old 
system,  the  Jamaica  slave  produced  within  a  fraction 
of  2286  Ibs.  of  sugar,  and  that  the  cost  of  labor  alone 
was  4-^r  cents  per  pound.  The  planters  of  those  days, 
as  any  authority  will  show,  expected  to  make  a  hogs 
head  of  15  cwt.  for  each  slave  in  their  possession. 
This  was  looked  upon  as  a  very  fair  remuneration, 
and  the  result  of  good  management.  Yet  under  such 
a  return,  the  proprietor  paid  within  a  fraction  of  six 
cents  per  pound  for  his  labor,  or  twenty  per  cent,  more 
than  my  estimate. 

It  follows,  if  my  figures  are  correct,  that  the  cost  of 


270      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

labor  in  sugar-cultivation  was  in  Jamaica,  under  slav 
ery,  4-nrV  cents  per  pound,  and  is  now,  under  freedom, 
two  cents  per  pound — that  the  slave,  under  compul 
sory  work,  produced  annually  2286  Ibs.,  while  the  free 
laborer,  working  only  six  or  seven  hours  a  day,  and 
only  170  days  out  of  the  year,  produces  2500  Ibs. 

Governor  Hincks,  in  a  recent  publication,  has  insti 
tuted  a  comparison  between  slave  labor  in  Cuba  and 
free  labor  in  Barbados ;  and  in  support  of  the  general 
argument  that  the  latter  is  the  cheaper  of  the  two,  I 
introduce  here  his  excellency's  conclusions.  The 
governor's  Cuban  figures  are  those  of  1852,  but  they 
are  as  applicable  now  as  then,  though  the  crop  and 
the  labor  force,  under  the  influence  of  the  slave-trade, 
have  increased  one  hundred  per  cent,  within  the  last 
eight  years.  In  1852  there  were  120,000  slaves  on 
the  Cuban  sugar  plantations,  and  the  total  quantity  of 
sugar  produced  was  22,690,460  arrobas  of  25^  Ibs. 
each,  or  an  average  to  each  slave  of  4810  Ibs.  Esti 
mating  the  annual  cost  of  each  slave  at  $144  30 — an 
under  estimate  for  a  Cuban  slave — the  cost  of  pro 
duction  per  pound  is  ascertained  to  be  three  cents. 
This  is  the  general  average,  though  a  particular  av 
erage  on  choice  estates  is  a  fraction  lower.  Governor 
Hincks  takes  seventeen  of  the  most  important  estates 
in  the  island,  and  shows  that  the  prices  paid  by  them 
for  labor  is  2-n>  cents  per  pound  of  sugar  produced. 
I  am  able,  from  figures  in  my  possession,  to  corrobo 
rate  this  estimate.  I  have  before  me  the  expenses  of 
an  economically  managed  sugar-estate,  embracing  55J- 
eaballarias  of  land,  producing  1,700,000  Ibs.  of  sugar, 
and  stocked  with  350  slaves.  The  maintenance,  cloth 
ing,  and  medical  attendance  of  the  slaves  are  put  down 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES. 


271 


at  $20,000.  The  interest  on  their  capital  ($800  apiece, 
or  $280,000,)  is  $28,000,  making  a  total  annual  cost  of 
$4:8,000,  or  $137  14  per  head.  Each  slave  produces 
4857  pounds,  and  the  cost  of  labor  is,  therefore,  2^j 
cents  per  pound.  But  this  is  an  exceptional  case; 
the  general  average,  as  I  said  before,  is  three  cents, 
and  even  that  is  fifteen  per  cent,  lower  than  the  esti 
mate  of  Cuban  planters  themselves. 

In  the  island  of  Barbados,  68,000,000  Ibs.  of  sugar, 
and  sometimes  much  more,  are  produced  by  22,000 
laborers.  They  work  about  200  days  in  the  year,  and 
the  daily  rate  of  wages  is  from  20  to  25  cents.  Tak 
ing  22  cents  as  the  average,  a  laborer  is  paid  $44  a 
year,  and  produces  3090  Ibs.  The  cost  of  labor  in 
Barbados  is,  therefore,  If  cents  on  each  pound  of 
sugar  manufactured. 

The  island  of  Trinidad  yielded,  in  1858,  a  sugar- 
crop  of  65,000,000  Ibs.,  with  an  agricultural  force  of 
17,000  laborers.  This  gave  3823  Ibs.  to  each  laborer, 
who  worked  220  days  for  $66,  or  at  the  rate  of  30 
cents  a  day.  The  cost  of  labor  in  Trinidad  was  in 
that  year  IJ&  cents  per  Ib.  It  must  have  been  con 
siderably  less  in  1859,  when  the  sugar-crop  exceeded 
70,000,000  Ibs. 

The  cost,  then,  of  labor  required  for  the  cultivation 
of  the  cane  in  some  of  the  principal  West  India  islands 
is  as  follows : 


Islands. 

Pounds  of  Sug 
ar  produced. 

Labor 
Force. 

Av.  of 
Ib?.  per 
Laborer. 

Oostofeach 
Laborer  pr. 
Annum. 

Cost  of  Labor 
per  Ib. 

Cuba             

577,200,000 

120,000 

4810 

ei44  30 

3  cts. 

Jamaica  (slave) 
Jamaica  (free)  . 
Trinidad 

160,000,000 
50,000,000 
65,000,000 

70,000 
20,000 
17,000 

2286 
2500 
3823 

100  00 
50  00 
66  00 

4-&o  cts- 
2  cts. 

IVrfrr  cts- 

Barbados  

68,000,000 

22,000 

3090 

44  00 

I-?  cts. 

272      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

From  this  table  the  first  and  most  important  result 
appears  that  the  cost  of  labor  in  the  free  countries  is 
much  below  the  cost  of  labor  in  the  slave  countries. 
The  slave  in  Cuba  produces  more  pounds  of  sugar 
than  the  free  laborer,  because  one  works  on  the  plant 
ation  four  or  five  hours  longer  per  day,  and  at  least 
two  days  longer  in  the  week,  than  the  other.  The 
comparatively  small  quantity  produced  by  the  Jamai 
ca  slave  may  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that  he  only 
worked  five  days  in  the  week,  being  allowed  to  culti 
vate  his  own  plot  on  the  Saturday,  and  also  to  the 
great  waste  of  labor  that  marked  the  reign  of  slavery 
and  marks  still  the  reign  of  freedom  in  the  island. 

It  farther  appears,  from  the  same  figures,  that  the 
cost  of  labor  is  lower  in  Barbados  than  in  the  other 
free  colonies,  and  the  reason  undoubtedly  is  that  the 
Barbados  labor  market  is  plentifully  supplied.  Bar 
bados  offers  the  most  perfect  example  of  free  labor, 
and  of  the  capacity  and  willingness  of  the  African  to 
work  under  a  free  system.  It  is  not  fair  to  cite  Ja 
maica  as  an  illustration  of  the  failure  of  free  labor 
while  the  laboring  class  is  so  exceedingly  small,  and 
so  utterly  unable  to  meet  the  necessities  of  an  extend 
ed  cultivation.  But  its  depreciation,  in  point  of  fact, 
is  not  a  sequence  of  emancipation  but  of  slavery. 
The  doctrine  of  emancipation,  that  free  labor  is  cheap 
er  than  slave  labor,  is  proved  to  demonstration ;  but 
where  the  free-labor  force  is  insufficient  for  the  culti 
vation  of  the  soil,  as  in  Jamaica,  there  can  be  no  com 
petition  with  a  slave  labor,  as  in  Cuba,  that  is  being 
constantly  re-enforced.  It  is  important  to  know  how 
that  insufficiency  originated ;  for  if  it  arose,  as  the 
planters  pretend,  from  the  positive  refusal  of  the  ne- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  273 

gro  to  work  under  a  free  system,  it  is  mere  child's 
play  to  show  on  paper  that  free  labor  is  cheaper  than 
slave.  Now  Barbados  is  a  living  proof  that  the  ne 
gro  does  work  under  a  free  system;  and  if  Barbados 
were  an  exceptional  case  in  that  bare  fact  (which  it 
emphatically  is  not),  it  would  have  been  the  simple 
duty  of  the  governing  classes  in  other  colonies  to  im 
itate  as  closely  as  possible  the  successful  example  of 
the  sister  island ;  and  by  increasing  their  population 
— if  want  of  population  were  the  sole  defect — relieve 
an  agricultural  distress  from  which  they  themselves 
were  exclusive  sufferers.  I  do  maintain,  without  any 
hesitation,  that  the  Creole  of  Jamaica  works  as  dil 
igently  as  the  Creole  of  Barbados ;  but  with  this 
difference — that  the  former  works  for  himself,  while 
the  latter  works  entirely  for  a  master  —  that  the 
work  of  the  one  is  more  profitable  because  it  is  well 
directed  and  economized,  while  the  work  of  the  oth 
er  is  less  profitable  because  it  is  ill  directed  and 
wasted.  It  was  to  demonstrate  these  truths,  and  not 
with  any  desire  to  rake  up  old  grievances  against  the 
planting  interest  that,  in  former  chapters,  I  endeavor 
ed  to  explain  the  causes  that  have  so  greatly  reduced 
the  laboring  force  on  Jamaica  plantations  under  a  re 
gime  of  freedom.  That  force,  at  no  period  in  the  isl 
and's  history,  was  equal  to  the  demand;  and  when,  aft 
er  emancipation,  the  planters,  under  a  heavy  pressure 
of  debt  and  misfortune,  attempted  to  coerce  their  lib 
erated  slaves  to  work  for  them  on  illiberal  terms,  it  is 
not  surprising  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  labor 
ers  abandoned  the  estates  and  entered  upon  the  new 
path  of  industry  and  independence  that  freedom  had 
opened  to  them.  If  they  had  acted  differently  they 
M2 


274      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

might  have  been  justly  condemned  as  men  unable  to 
appreciate  the  blessings  of  liberty  and  averse  to  moral 
and  social  improvement;  for  their  progress  in  this  re 
spect — their  superiority  over  the  small  remnant  of  la 
borers  who  still  constitute  a  permanent  force  on  the 
estates  is  so  marked,  that  even  the  most  prejudiced 
can  not  fail  to  recognize  it. 

The  obstinate  determination  of  the  planters  to  pur 
sue  the  old  system  of  management — to  regard  their 
laborers  as  serfs  in  whom  every  spark  of  ambition 
should  be  quenched — has  been  attended,  I  am  con 
vinced,  by  the  worst  consequences.  The  aid  of  set 
tlers  is  still  steadily  refused  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
cane,  except  it  be  given  in  the  particular  way,  and  at 
the  particular  time  that  the  planters  ask  for  it.  If  the 
settler  is  looking  after  his  yams  and  plantains  during 
the  week  or  month  that  the  planter  requires  his  serv 
ices,  if  he  is  selling  his  produce  at  the  time,  or  enjoy 
ing  his  Christmas  holiday,  or  in  any  other  way  mak 
ing  practical  use  of  his  purchased  independence,  he  is 
denounced  as  an  idle,  worthless  vagabond.  Mention 
the  Metairie  system  to  a  Jamaica  planter,  and  he  will 
think  you  a  fool,  or  intimate,  perhaps,  that  you  mean 
to  insult  him.  He  refuses  to  co-operate  in  any  way 
with  a  people  who  will  admit  no  more  his  patriarchal 
authority,  and  will  recognize  no  longer  his  right  to 
command  their  services  whenever  he  pleases,  and  at 
any  disadvantage  to  themselves.  But,  more  than  this, 
the  labor  that  he  can  even  now  obtain,  the  Jamaica 
planter  neither  economizes  nor  takes  any  trouble 
whatever  to  retain.  He  himself  aggravates  and  in 
creases  the  scarcity  of  which  he  so  bitterly  com 
plains.  He  practically  ignores  all  the  mechanical  and 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  275 

agricultural  improvements  of  the  century.  Except 
in  the  one  particular  of  steam,  introduced  at  the  last 
hour,  his  mode  of  cultivating  and  manufacturing  sugar 
is  the  same  now  as  it  was  in  the  year  1800.  He  rides 
his  worn-out  hobbies  in  spite  of  the  demonstration  of 
scientific  men  that,  from  the  present  amount  of  land 
in  cane-cultivation,  with  slight  additional  labor  or  ex 
pense,  one  hundred  thousand  instead  of  thirty  thou 
sand  hogsheads  might  be  annually  produced.  No 
one  who  understands  American  character  will  enter 
tain  a  doubt  that,  if  this  island  had  been  American, 
emancipation  would  n.ever,  for  a  day,  have  checked 
its  progress,  and  that  now,  depreciated  and  dead  as  it 
is,  there  wants  but  the  touch  of  enterprise  to  kindle  it 
into  burning  life.  'No  one  who  thoroughly  under 
stands  the  present  condition  of  Jamaica  can  entertain 
a  doubt  that  if  her  planters  had  as  signal  advantages 
over  those  of  Cuba  and  Porto  Eico  in  the  supply  as 
they  have  in  the  cheapness  of  their  labor,  they  would 
still  be  unable  to  compete  with  rivals  so  far  ahead  of 
them  in  all  that  pertains  to  economic  science. 

If  obstructions  so  serious  impede  the  progress  of 
the  resident  proprietary  of  Jamaica,  how  much  more 
serious  are  the  obstructions  in  the  way  of  non-resi 
dents,  who,  besides  other  drawbacks,  pay  annually  for 
oversight  about  $20  on  each  hogshead  of  sugar  pro 
duced  !  This  alone  is  sufficient  to  swallow  up  their 
profits.  The  ultimate  fate  of  any  property  in  the 
world  cultivated  and  managed  in  perpetuity,  under 
such  an  expensive  agency,  or  under  agency  at  all,  is 
so  certain,  that  it  is  an  insult  to  the  understanding  of 
an  intelligent  reader  to  point  it  out.  As  soon  as  Ja 
maica  cane-cultivation  was  left  to  stand  or  fall  on  its 


276      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

own  merits  by  the  equalization  of  British  duties  on 
foreign  and  colonial  sugars,  it  was  most  natural  that 
nine  tenths  of  the  estates  owned  by  absentee  propri 
etors  should  have  been  abandoned.  This  absenteeism 
has  cursed,  more  than  aught  else,  the  island  and  its 
industry.  This,  the  most  prominent  among  a  host  of 
evils,  led  to  the  abandonment  of  so  many  estates,  and 
to  the  wide-spread  ruin  that  ensued.  I  do  not,  how 
ever,  say  that,  because  the  proprietors  ruined  their 
own  interest,  the  interest  itself  should  be  allowed  to 
die.  One  of  the  means  prescribed  for  its  recovery  is 
immigration ;  and  though  it  is  not  to  be  expected  that 
immigration,  unaided,  will  accomplish  every  thing,  we 
know  from  the  experience  of  other  colonies  that  it  can 
accomplish  a  very  great  deal.  With  the  examples  of 
Trinidad,  Guiana,  and  the  Mauritius  understood  and 
appreciated,  the  benefits  to  be  derived  from  a  well- 
regulated  scheme  of  immigration  will  be  conceded  by 
those  who  take  an  unprejudiced  view  of  Jamaica's 
actual  condition,  and  who  earnestly  desire  to  see  a 
reign,  not  of  particular,  but  of  general  prosperity  in 
augurated.  At  the  same  time  it  will  be  admitted  that 
many  deficiencies  besides  a  deficiency  of  labor  must  be 
supplied  before  Jamaica  can  affect  to  rival  her  wealthy 
neighbor;  that  among  the  causes  to  which  her  ruin 
may  be  traced,  the  refusal  of  the  African  Creole  to 
work  for  proper  remuneration  finds  no  place;  and 
that  emancipation,  far  from  being  the  origin  of  her 
many  misfortunes,  only  ushered  into  life  a  cheaper,  a 
wiser,  and  a  better  system  of  labor. 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  277 


CHAPTER  XXVL 

WANT  OF  LABOR  IN  JAMAICA. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

WHEN  I  enumerated,  in  a  former  chapter,  the  causes 
that,  in  my  judgment,  have  combined  to  ruin  Jamaica, 
and  attributed  them,  as  I  think  they  ought  to  be  at 
tributed,  to  faults  and  errors  committed  by  the  plant 
ers  themselves,  it  was  with  no  feelings  of  hostility  to 
an  interest  that  I  believe  to  be  of  paramount  impor 
tance,  and  no  desire  to  see  its  lawful  energies  cramped 
or  its  success  obstructed.  When  the  planters  were 
compelled  to  receive  an  inadequate  compensation  for 
their  slaves,  they  did  so  with  the  understanding  that 
their  staple  should  be  protected  in  the  British  market. 
The  wrong,  if  wrong  it  was,  lay  with  the  government 
that  held  out  such  a  promise,  not  with  the  govern 
ment  that  abolished,  with  an  odious  monopoly,  the 
heavy  tax  paid  by  the  English  people  for  the  support 
of  a  West  Indian  aristocracy.  The  planters  could  not 
be  expected  to  take  an  abstract  view  of  a  measure 
that  consummated  their  own  ruin.  They  complained 
bitterly  of  injustice ;  and,  though  their  complaints  car 
ried  with  them  no  argument  for  the  restoration  of  pro 
tection,  they  should  have  silenced  all  factious  opposi 
tion  to  wholesome  plans  devised  for  the  restoration 
of  Jamaica's  prosperity.  Whether  labor  was  or  was 
not  as  urgently  needed  as  a  large  party  in  the  island 


278      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

contended,  there  can  not  be  a  doubt  that  population 
was  required,  and  that,  if  immigration  had  been  en 
couraged  immediately  after  emancipation,  the  colony 
would  have  been  saved  from  many  of  the  evils  that 
have  since  befallen  it. 

That  I  may  not  be  misunderstood,  I  state  my  con 
viction  distinctly,  in  the  commencement  of  this  chap 
ter,  that  population  is  one  of  Jamaica's  most  pressing  ne 
cessities.  The  laboring  classes  must  be  strengthened  if 
sugar-cultivation  is  to  be  extended  beyond  its  present 
limits ;  the  middle  classes  must  be  strengthened,  if  it 
.  be  at  all  advisable  to  promote  agricultural  and  me 
chanical  knowledge,  to  ennoble  and  stimulate  labor,  to 
engender  a  spirit  of  emulation,  and  to  multiply  the  ex 
portation  of  minor  staples  ;  and  finally,  the  large  pro 
prietary  must  be  strengthened  by  men  of  capital,  men 
of  energy,  and  men  of  enterprise  —  men  who  are  not 
averse  to  improvement,  if  the  great  resources  of  the 
island  are  ever  to  be  thoroughly  developed.  But,  for 
laborers,  Jamaica  does  not  want  mere  beasts  of  bur 
den,  to  be  the  slaves,  as  in  the  French  and  Spanish 
colonies,  of  a  selfish  and  unprincipled  management; 
she  wants  no  new  settlers,  as  was  once  contended,  to 
monopolize  the  provision  market,  and  drive  the  legiti 
mate  peasantry  from  the  cultivation  of  their  proper 
ties  to  a  state  of  dependence  on  the  planter  and  a  la 
bor  for  daily  hire ;  she  wants  no  new  planters  who 
can  not  consent  to  attend  to  their  own  business,  and 
who  will  refuse  to  consider  their  interests  in  any  way 
connected  with  the  durable  prosperity  of  the  island. 
In  this  kind  of  population  there  would  be  no  guaran 
ty  for  the  future.  Jamaica,  even  now,  has  a  larger 
number  of  inhabitants  to  the  square  mile  than  any 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  279 

state  in  the  Union  except  Connecticut,  Massachusetts, 
New  York,  and  Rhode  Island.  But  she  stands  in 
need  of  immigration  more  than  any  state  in  the  Union, 
because  a  working-man  in  America  does  as  much  as 
ten  men  do  in  Jamaica.  She  stands  in  need  of  labor, 
because  sugar  can  not  be  largely  cultivated  without 
an  exclusively  laboring  class;  and  that  class  in  this 
island,  always  unequal  to  the  demands  upon  it,  grows 
weak  and  weaker  every  day.  The  Jamaica  laborer 
of  yesterday  is  a  proprietor  to-day.  He  has  bought 
his  acre  of  land,  and  is  independent ;  and  as  long  as 
land  is  cheap  and  plentiful,  the  drain  upon  the  labor 
ing  force  must  inevitably  continue.  The  vacancy  can 
only  be  supplied  by  constant  immigration.  In  Amer 
ica  the  process  is  natural,  in  Jamaica  it  must  be  forced 
and  fostered.  I  believe  that  the  prosperity  of  Jamai 
ca  depends  very  much  upon  the  extension  of  sugar- 
cultivation,  and  that  the  extension  of  sugar-cultivation 
materially  depends  upon  a  labor  that  is  not  adequate 
to  the  task.  It  can  not  be  questioned  that  the  most 
flourishing  plantations  in  the  island  might  be  raised  to 
a  much  higher  point  of  perfection -than  they  at  present 
exhibit,  and  be  made  to  give  double  the  quantity  of 
sugar  that  they  now  yield  to  the  acre.  If  such  an  im 
provement  demands  more  scientific  culture,  better  ma 
chinery,  and  closer  economy,  it  also  demands  a  con 
tinued  supply  of  labor  such  as  few  planters  in  Jamai 
ca  can  procure.  It  demands  a  certain  labor,  available 
at  any  and  all  times — a  labor  that  is  not  transient  or 
dependent  on  the  pleasure  of  the  peasantry,  who,  at 
critical  seasons,  will  leave  an  estate  almost  deserted  to 
plant  or  look  after  their  own  provision-grounds. 
The  statement  that  an  increase,  of  labor  is  indispens- 


280      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

able  to  the  prosperity  of  Jamaica,  bears,  however, 
some  qualification.  Want  of  labor  has  not  ruined  the 
island,  and  it  is  mere  folly  to  expect  that  an  indiscrim 
inate  importation  of  labor  will,  without  other  aid,  re 
generate  it.  I  do  most  unequivocally  state  that,  after 
diligent  inquiry,  I  have  been  unable  to  discover  a  sin 
gle  property  abandoned  for  want  of  labor  alone. 
There  are,  without  doubt,  successful  planters  in  the 
island  who  could  command  means  to  extend  and  im 
prove  their  estates,  if  they  could  also  command  the 
necessary  field  force ;  there  may  be  some  few  estates, 
in  districts  remote  from  populous  villages,  where  the 
want  of  labor  during  crop-time  is  severely  felt ;  I  will 
not  even  undertake  to  deny  the  assertion  (though  I 
think  it  unlikely)  that  canes,  for  want  of  labor  alone, 
have  been  left  uncut  to  rot  upon  the  ground ;  but  the 
rule — and  I  must  be  guided  by  the  rule,  and  not  by 
exceptional  cases — the  rule  is,  that  capital  is  wanted 
to  employ  the  labor  that  may  already  be  found  in  the 
island.  I  agree  with  the  planters  when  they  say  that 
an  abundance  of  labor  would  bring  an  abundance  of 
capital ;  but  I  differ  from  them  when  they  say  that 
capital  in  Jamaica,  as  a  rule,  is  unable  to  command 
labor.  Let  it  be  remembered  that  the  destitution  of 
labor  in  Jamaica  is  nothing  like  the  destitution  that 
has  prevailed  in  Trinidad  or  in  Guiana.  Jamaica, 
with  an  area  of  four  millions  of  acres,  had  an  agricul 
tural  laboring  population  in  1838  of  200,000 ;  the 
field-laboring  force  of  Trinidad,  with  an  area  of  two 
million  acres,  was  at  the  same  period  only  12,000; 
and  the  laboring  force  of  Guiana,  with  an  unbounded 
territory  of  the  richest  soil  adjoining  its  settlements, 
was  55,000.  Yet  Jamaica,  with  advantages  of  labor, 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  281 

sank  lower  than  Trinidad  or  Gruiana,  because  she  was 
weighed  down  by  a  heavier  debt,  and  cursed  more 
deeply  with  absenteeism  and  mismanagement.  Want 
of  labor,  therefore,  is  so  far  qualified  by  want  of  capi 
tal,  that  the  one  is  utterly  useless,  and,  indeed,  can  not 
be  obtained  at  all  without  the  other. 

"Want  of  labor  in  Jamaica  bears  a  farther  qualifica 
tion.  The  labor  that  the  planters  now  command  they 
do  not  economize ;  the  labor  that  they  lost  years  ago, 
and  that  year  after  year  they  continue  to  lose,  they  so 
lost,  and  so  continue  to  lose,  in  a  very  great  measure 
by  their  own  fault.  If  want  of  labor  were  the  sole 
cause  of  diminished  cultivation,  we  would  expect  to 
find  such  labor  as  there  was,  were  it  ever  so  scanty, 
closely  economized  instead  of  recklessly  wasted  in  the 
manner  that  it  unquestionably  is.  Economy  of  pres 
ent  labor  should  naturally  precede  the  introduction 
of  fresh  labor.  Now,  when  we  find  the  planter  pur 
suing  a  policy  that  tends  to  alienate  the  laboring  class 
es  from  his  interests,  how  can  we  put  implicit  faith  in 
his  profession,  that  on  the  industry  of  the  people  whom 
he  disdains  to  conciliate,  his  own  success  or  ruin  de 
pends?  The  righteous  instinct  of  the  British  nation 
has  demanded  a  guaranty  (which  the  planters,  to  do 
them  justice,  have  readily  conceded)  that  the  immi 
grant  laborer  shall  not  be  made  the  slave  or  tool  of 
oppression — a  mere  lever  with  which  the  proprietary 
may  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of  popular  lib 
erty  and  popular  enlightenment.  The  introduction, 
under  a  specious  disguise,  of  a  new  race  of  slaves  would 
never  benefit  the  colony,  and,  more  than  this,  the  honor 
of  England  is  pledged  that  these  men  shall  be  free. 
This  foreign  immigration,  which  has  so  advantaged 


282      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

other  colonies,  has  been  only  allowed  to  Jamaica  with 
in  a  year  past;  and  the  opposition  that  colonial  legis 
lation  encountered  from  the  mother  country  must  be 
attributed  to  the  distrust  with  which  all  measures  em 
anating  from  the  planting  interest  of  Jamaica  have 
been  hitherto  regarded.  The  planters  of  to-day  are 
paying  the  penalty  of  old  faults  and  follies.  They 
are  inheriting  the  consequences  of  a  very  mistaken 
policy  that  some,  even  now,  are  not  too  willing  to  dis 
card;  they  are  suffering  from  the  defeat  that  their 
predecessors  sustained  in  the  long  and  bitter  war  that 
they  foolishly  waged  against  free  labor. 

The  mouth-pieces  of  the  planting  interest  continue 
to-day  to  misrepresent  the  character  of  the  negro,  un 
der  the  stupid  belief  that  it  will  create  a  reaction  of 
sympathy  in  favor  of  their  party.  They  say  that  the 
Creole  can  not  be  induced  to  work  for  love  or  money. 
They  have  a  fancy  for  his  picture  as  he  "  lounges  about 
his  own  grounds — caring  little  for  the  comforts  of  life, 
and  unwilling  to  purchase  them  at  the  expense  of  even 
a  trivial  and  transient  labor."  The  planters,  and  all 
connected  with  the  planting  interest,  unite  in  believ 
ing,  or  professing  to  believe,  that  want  of  labor,  lost 
through  Creole  idleness,  is  the  only  cause  of  Jamaica's 
ruin  at  all  worthy  of  consideration.  Any  otie  who 
thinks  differently  is  set  down  as  grossly  prejudiced, 
possibly  bought  up  by  the  Anti-slavery  Society  (Jamai 
ca's  signal  enemy),  or,  at  the  very  least,  ignorant  of  the 
subject  upon  which  he  has  ventured  an  opinion.  How 
can  a  stranger  understand  or  appreciate  the  wants  of 
Jamaica  ?  Surely  political  economy  in  Jamaica  is  un 
like  political  economy  any  where  else ! 

I  plead  guilty  to  the  charge  of  being  a  stranger. 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  283 

But  the  Jamaica  resident  of  a  month  old  must  have 
neither  eyes  nor  ears  if  he  fail  to  read  in  the  ceaseless 
wash  of  partisan  newspapers,  or  to  hear  from  eager 
communicants  the  minutias  of  the  planter's  argumen- 
tum  ad  crumenam.  The  anxious  inquirer  in  Jamaica 
will  be  like  the  man  with  the  ass  in  the  fable,  if  he 
depend  for  information  on  what  people  say ;  for  A 
will  flatly  contradict  to-morrow  what  B  told  him  to 
day.  He  must  rely  upon  his  own  powers  of  observa 
tion.  If  my  powers  in  this  respect  are  deficient,  I 
can  not  help  it;  but  I  stoutly  maintain  that  I  have 
been  looking  only  through  my  own  spectacles.  If  it 
be  true  that  the  negro  declines  work,  I  am  ready  to 
admit  it ;  but  it  is  untrue.  If  it  be  true  that  want  of 
labor  has  ruined  the  island,  I  am  anxious  to  see  it; 
but  it  is  not. 

A  stranger  in  Jamaica,  and  especially  an  American, 
who  knew  nothing  of  its  past  history  or  present  wants, 
would  never  dream  that  labor  was  the  great  desider 
atum.  He  firids,  on  arriving  at  Kingston,  a  dozen 
boatmen  eager  to  convey  him  ashore — a  dozen  porters 
ready  to  carry  his  luggage — a  dozen  messengers  quar 
reling  to  run  his  errands.  He  is  pestered  with  able- 
bodied  men  and  their  offers  of  assistance  for  a  paltry 
remuneration.  He  sees  as  many  attendants  in  a  petty 
Kingston  shop  as  in  a  Broadway  store,  and  a  govern 
ment  clerk  with  as  many  servants  as  a  foreign  embas- 
sador.  Servants  must  have  under-servants,  and  agents 
sub-agents.  If  he  travel  through  the  country,  he  finds 
half  a  dozen  men  watching  a  herd  of  cattle,  and  as 
many  looking  after  a  team  of  oxen.  He  sees  labor 
every  where — on  the  roads,  the  streets,  the  wharves; 
and  it  is  only  upon  the  plantations  that  he  hears  any 


284      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

complaint.  Yet  even  there  he  detects  none  of  the 
labor-saving  machinery  that  he  has  been  accustomed 
to  see  at  home,  where  labor  is  really  scarce  and  dear ; 
but  he  witnesses  a  cultivation  conducted  on  primitive 
and  most  wasteful  principles.  He  will  infer,  of  course, 
that  the  labor  market  is  overstocked  rather  than  un 
derstocked,  and  his  inference  will  neither  be  wholly 
wrong,  nor  yet  wholly  right.  It  will  be  nearer  the 
truth  to  say  that  the  actual  labor  force  of  the  island  is 
misdirected  and  frittered  away.  The  laboring  classes 
of  Jamaica — I  mean  the  men  and  women  who  live  by 
labor  for  daily  wages — dislike  plantation-work,  and 
prefer  to  earn  their  livelihood  whenever  they  can  by 
any  other  kind  of  toil.  They  disliked  it  at  first  be 
cause  it  was  the  badge  of  a  slavery  still  fresh  in  their 
remembrance — not,  as  the  planters  say,  because  they 
were  too  idle  to  work,  for  they  do  work,  and  work 
hard,  as  I  am  going  to  show,  at  any  other  occupation. 
But  their  dislike  was  not  an  invincible  dislike.  It 
might  have  been  overcome  by  elevating  instead  of 
degrading  labor ;  by  kind  treatment,  by  wise  legisla 
tion,  by  the  cultivation  of  friendly  relations,  and  by 
some  little  regard  for  the  happiness  and  comfort  of 
the  people.  It  was,  on  the  contrary,  strengthened  by 
systematic  harshness,  oppression,  and  injustice. 

The  Jamaica  planter,  who  wants  more  labor  than 
he  can  command  at  a  particular  season,  hurries  to  the 
impatient  conclusion  that  the  negro  will  not  work. 
The  laborer  indignantly  denies  the  imputation.  I 
found  it  unnecessary  to  strike  a  balance  between  the 
contradictory  statements,  or  to  rely  upon  either — for 
there  was  other  and  more  unbiased  testimony  at  hand. 
I  sought  information  from  the  chief  commissioner  of 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  285 

roads,  who  has  3000  men  under  constant  employment, 
and  he  assured  me  that  they  worked  diligently  for 
five  days  in  the  week — going  to  market,  after  their 
custom,  on  the  sixth,  or  devoting  it  to  the  cultivation 
of  their  own  grounds.  He  had  no  complaints  to  make 
of  idleness,  and  instead  of  there  being  a  deficiency  of 
hands,  he  could  obtain  an  additional  thousand  at  any 
time  he  chose.  The  men,  he  said,  preferred  breaking 
stones  on  the  road  to  estate-labor,  though  the  former 
was  much  the  severer  work  of  the  two. 

I  inquired  farther  of  the  superintendent  of  the  Eio 
Grande  copper  mines,  in  the  parish  of  Portland,  an 
intelligent,  practical,  energetic  Englishman,  who,  for 
eight  years,  has  had  a  large  body  of  men  under  his 
command.  He  told  me  that,  at  first,  the  planters  ridi 
culed  his  idea  of  getting  labor ;  nevertheless,  in  all  his 
experience,  he  has  not  known  what  it  was  to  want  la 
bor.  If  he  stood  in  need  of  five  men,  fifteen  or  twen 
ty  would  apply.  These  men  worked  eight  hours  a 
day,  and  for  six  days  in  the  week — and  though  some 
of  them  had  been  in  the  superintendent's  employ  five 
or  six  years,  he  never  had  occasion  to  complain  of 
their  idleness.  "They  work,"  he  said,  "like  very 
slaves,  stripping  themselves  to  the  task;  they  work 
harder  and  more  persistently,  I  am  convinced,  than  if 
they  were  forced  to  it." 

All  the  impartial  testimony  that  I  could  obtain  in 
Jamaica  summed  up  a  crushing  contradiction  to  the 
unqualified  pretension  of  the  planter  that  the  negro 
would  not  work.  And  when  I  asked  the  negro  him 
self  why  he  preferred  the  toil  of  the  mine  to  the  com 
paratively  easy  labor  of  the  plantation,  his  explanation 
was  very  simple — "Buckra  don't  pay." 


286      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

On  flourishing  estates,  where  planters  and  overseers 
can  afford  to  pay  punctually,  they  are  seldom  in  great 
straits  for  labor.  On  other  estates,  where  the  case  is 
different  —  where  laborers  are  kept  two  and  three 
months  without  wages,  which,  in  the  end,  are  arbi 
trarily  cut  down,  and  sometimes  not  paid  at  all,  it  is 
natural  there  should  be  complaints  of  want  of  labor. 
I  am  not  making  a  vague  or  untenable  assertion. 
Several  instances  of  unpunctuality  in  payment  and 
questionable  honesty  fell  under  my  notice.  In  these 
particular  instances,  at  least,  they  proved  the  exist 
ence  of  a  practice  that  would  ruin  the  credit  of  a  bus 
iness  man  in  America  within  a  month.  The  mining 
superintendent  to  whom  I  have  referred,  informed  me 
that  when  his  operations  were  suspended,  an  overseer 
from  a  sugar-estate  near  Annotto  Bay  came  to  the  Eio 
Grande  to  seek  labor.  About  twenty  men  accepted 
his  offer  of 'thirty-six  cents  a  day,  and  left  for  the  estate, 
thirty  miles  distant.  They  worked  for  three  months 
without  receiving  any  wages,  and  at  the  end  of  the 
time  were  paid  off  at  the  rate  of  eighteen  cents  a  day. 

It  is  the  practice,  among  an  inferior  class  of  proprie 
tors,  to  cut  down  the  laborer's  wages,  if  exception  can 
possibly  be  taken  to  the  work  performed ;  and  when 
the  laborer  complains  of  injustice  he  is  summarily  dis 
missed.  It  is  a  farce  to  talk  of  legal  redress  or  the  ne 
gro's  love  of  litigation.  He  is  in  a  country  district, 
has  no  one  to  advise  with,  and  must  bear  the  wrong 
or  quit  the  estate.  The  planters  themselves  admit 
that  they  can  always  get  men  to  dig  cane-holes — the 
severest  of  plantation-work.  But  this  is  a  definite 
and  specific  job.  The  negro  contracts  for  the  pay 
ment  of  so  much  money  for  so  many  cane-holes,  and 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  287 

if  be  does  the  work  lie  can  not  be  deprived  of  his  due, 
except  by  open  dishonesty.  Here,  then,  is  a  distinc 
tion  between  estate-work  and  other  work  sufficient  to 
account  for  the  Creole's  preferences.  Upon  the  roads, 
or  in  the  mines,  he  knoivs  that  he  will  be  paid,  once  a 
week,  the  shilling,  or  the  shilling  and  a  half  per  diem 
that  he  has  earned ;  while,  owing  to  some  pernicious 
examples,  he  is  taught  to  believe  that  on  the  estate 
payment  is  a  matter  of  uncertainty,  depending  on  the 
arbitrary  will  of  the  overseer.  I  do  not  assert  for  a 
moment,  or  seek  to  insinuate,  that  dishonesty  is  a  com 
mon  practice  on  Jamaica  sugar-estates,  or  that  irregu 
larity  of  payment  is  any  thing  like  a  rule.  The  sim 
ple  fact  that  three  hundred  estates  are  in  successful 
cultivation  proves  the  contrary.  But  to  account  for 
the  notorious  preference  of  the  negro  for  the  severest 
work  rather  than  plantation-work,  I  give  irregularity 
of  payment  as  one  among  other  causes.  It  is  perfect 
ly  obvious  that  the  practice  on  one  estate  is  enough  to 
excite  distrust  throughout  a  whole  parish,  especially 
among  a  people  who  indulge  in  exaggeration  and 
gossip,  and  who  never  could  be  induced  to  work 
again  for  a  master  whom  they  suspected  of  deal 
ing  with  them  unfairly.  This,  then,  is  one  impor 
tant  reason  why  the  planter  can  not  command  the  la 
bor  that  already  exists  in  the  island,  and  that  other 
capitalists  can  readily  obtain.  To  it  may  be  added 
the  low  estimate,  amounting  to  positive  degradation, 
at  which  field  labor  is  rated  in  the  popular  mind.  No 
sum  of  money  would  tempt  a  mulatto  to  work  in  the 
field.  It  is  the  province  of  the  blacks  alone.  It 
ceases  to  be  their  province  as  soon  as  they  buy  the 
acre  of  land,  and  the  independence  after  which  their 


288      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOK  IN 

souls  yearn.  It  was  the  badge  of  slavery ;  and  it  is 
no  matter  for  surprise  that  there  should  be  a  prejudice 
against  the  emblem  long  after  the  reality  has  passed 
forever  away. 

The  planter's  plea  that,  for  such  labor  as  the  island 
can  give,  he  can  not  afford  to  pay  the  price  demand 
ed,  is  unworthy  of  consideration.  He  says,  for  in 
stance,  that  he  can  not  raise  corn  to  advantage.  What ! 
with  a  soil  five  times  as  productive  as  any  soil  in 
America,  and  able  to  procure  first-class  laborers  at 
fifty  cents  a  day,  he  can  not  compete  with  American 
corn  in  the  Kingston  market !  The  statement  is  ab 
surd  on  the  face  of  it.  A  laborer  in  America  earns  a 
dollar  a  day.  Laborers  in  Jamaica  on  the  roads,  or 
in  the  mines,  get,  according  to  their  value,  twenty -four 
cents,  thirty  cents,  and  thirty-six  cents — no  higher.  A 
task-laborer  on  an  estate,  if  he  work  hard,  may  earn 
fifty  cents,  and  I  have  known  laborers  by  contract 
earn  their  dollar.  But  these  are  very  exceptional 
wages.  Laborers  in  the  parish  of  Manchester  are 
willing  to  work  for  eighteen  cents  a  day  and  can  not 
find  employment.  Taking  the  whole  island,  the  aver 
age  price  of  daily  labor  throughout  the  year  does  not 
exceed,  if  it  reaches,  thirty  cents. 

There  are  undoubtedly  many  Jamaica  Creoles  who 
will  not  work  for  estates  under  any  inducement. 
They  are  small  proprietors  of  a  superior  class,  and 
different  from  the  laborers,  pure  and  simple,  of  whom 
I  have  just  been  writing.  But  because  they  cultivate 
their  own  grounds,  and  are  too  independent  to  hire 
themselves  out  at  thirty  cents  a  day,  they  should  not 
be  denounced  as  an  idle,  worthless,  and  unproductive 
people.  These  men,  years  ago,  were  driven  from  the 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  289 

estates  by  a  series  of  mistakes  and  blunders  which  the 
planters  of  to-day  can  readily  recognize.  The  history 
of  estate  abandonment  in  Jamaica  is  a  history  of  sys 
tematic  injustice  and  oppression  on  the  part  of  the 
proprietary  body,  accompanied  by  a  most  fatal  blind 
ness  to  their  own  interests.  They  strove,  by  harsh 
measures  and  petty  persecutions,  to  compel  the  people 
to  remain  on  the  estates,  and  a  system  of  tenancy-at- 
will,  held  over  them  in  terrorem,  though  practically 
broken  up  by  the  negroes  themselves,  remained  in 
force  long  enough  to  destroy  here,  as  it  has  destroyed 
in  other  islands,  all  confidence  between  planter  and 
laborer.  That  confidence  has  never  been  restored. 
The  better  class  of  Creoles  bought  land,  cultivated 
for  themselves,  and  earned,  as  they  still  earn,  an  hon 
orable  livelihood  by  supplying  the  provision  markets 
and  the  export  markets  with  minor  staples.  All  at 
tempts  to  dislodge  them  from  their  independence 
have  but  widened  the  breach  between  them  and  their 
old  employers.  The  planter  even  now,  after  twenty 
years'  disastrous  experience,  will  not  allow  that  he  has 
aught  in  common  with  the  small  settler,  or  that  he  is 
under  any  necessity  or  obligation  to  conciliate  a  peo 
ple  who  might  still  be  of  the  utmost  service  to  the 
large  proprietary  interest  that  he  represents.  I  know 
of  an  abandoned  estate  in  the  parish  of  Portland 
which  the  settlers  offered  to  resuscitate  on  condition 
that  the  proprietor  would  give  them  one  half  of  the 
produce.  The  offer  was  refused;  and  I  have  heard 
of  other  cases  where  similar  proposals  met  with  the 
like  rejection.  I  have  no  doubt  in  my  own  mind 
that,  under  some  such  arrangement  as  this,  abandoned 
sugar-estates  throughout  the  whole  island  might  be 

N 


290      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

resuscitated  with  economy  and  profit  to  all  parties 
concerned. 

When,  therefore,  I  stated,  as  I  did  in  the  commence 
ment  of  this  chapter,  that  labor  in  Jamaica  is  wanted 
for  sugar-cultivation,  I  do  not  mean  it  to  be  inferred 
that  the  Creole  population  will  not  work.  So,  again, 
when  I  state  that  labor  of  a  certain  kind  and  in  certain 
localities  can  not  readily  find  employment,  I  do  not 
mean  it  to  be  inferred  that  the  planter  can  always 
command  it.  My  object  in  this  chapter  has  been  to 
explain  the  coexistence  in  Jamaica  of  unemployed  sup 
ply  and  serious  want  of  labor — an  anomaly  produced, 
in  my  judgment,  by  very  grave  errors  of  political 
economy  and  plantation  mismanagement.  There 
seems  to  have  l^een  a  fatality  in  the  course  pursued 
with  the  West  India  negro,  arising  from  a  determina 
tion  to  regard  him  as  a  being  who  reasoned  different 
ly  and  acted  differently  from  other  people.  I  have 
ever  found  him  doing  exactly  what  a  white  man 
would  do  under  the  same  circumstances.  While  I 
believe  in  immigration,  I  believe  that  the  planting  in 
terest  of  Jamaica  could  make,  and  ought  to  make,  far 
more  of  the  present  laboring  force  than  it  does.  Im 
migration,  to  insure  success,  can  only  be  carried  out 
on  a  large  scale  and  at  a  large  expense.  Capital, 
then,  becomes  an  important  prerequisite.  Jamaica, 
in  this  respect,  is  worse  off  than  Trinidad  or  Guiana 
ever  were,  because  her  credit  is  utterly  ruined.  Men 
might  be  found  to  risk  capital  once  more  on  her  pro 
ductive  soil  if  it  were  not  for  the  quicksands  of  her 
unsteady  legislation.  But  though  a  fresh  and  vigor 
ous  population  were  poured  into  the  colony  to-mor 
row  —  though,  under  its  influence,  the  most  enthusi- 


THE   BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  291 

astic  hopes  were  realized — though  enterprise  revived 
and  prosperity  regained  the  sway  that  ruin  now 
usurps — the  governing  classes  would  do  well  to  erect 
a  beacon  on  the  Charybdis  that  wrecked  their  island- 
ship.  For  they  must  remember,  in  all  time  to  come, 
that  the  permanent  prosperity  of  Jamaica,  or  of  any 
other  country  in  the  world,  depends  not  upon  the  ac 
cumulation  of  capital  in  the  hands  of  a  few  large  land 
ed  proprietors,  but  on  a  general  distribution  of  wealth 
and  education  among  an  industrious,  a  free,  and  intel 
ligent  people. 


292      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTEK  XXVII. 

NECESSITY  FOR  IMMIGRATION. 

Kingston,  Jamaica,  1860. 

IN  preceding  chapters  I  endeavored  to  show  that  la 
bor  can  not  readily  be  commanded  by  the  planters  of 
Jamaica,  and  for  reasons  which  I  shall  here  briefly  re 
capitulate  : 

1.  Because,  at  the  period  of  emancipation,  there  was 
barely  labor  enough  for  pressing  wants,  and  every 
year  that  has  elapsed  since  the  abolition  of  slavery 
has  witnessed  the  permanent  and  perfectly  legitimate 
withdrawal  of  large  numbers  from  estate-service  with 
out  any  corresponding  introduction   of  labor  from 
abroad. 

2.  Because  Jamaica   exports,  besides   sugar,  very 
large  quantities  of  coffee,  pimento,  ginger,  and  woods 
of  various  kinds,  all  of  which  have  helped  to  weaken 
the  labor  force  absolutely  required  for  the  production 
of  the  principal  staple. 

3.  Because,  for  years  after  emancipation,  the  plant 
ers  pursued  a  policy  of  coercion  that  compelled  the 
negroes,  in  simple  self-defense,  to  abandon  estate-serv 
ice  ;  and  the  confidence  between  the  proprietary  and 
laboring  interests  then  destroyed  has  never  been  re 
stored. 

4.  Because  land  in  Jamaica  is  very  cheap  and  plen 
tiful,  and  the  negro  has  discovered  that  cultivating 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  293 

for  himself  is  more  to  his  advantage  pecuniarily,  so 
cially,  and  morally  than  cultivating  for  others. 

5.  Because  a  very  large  number  of  estates  were 
abandoned  for  want  of  capital,  and  the  negroes,  obliged 
to  seek  other  means  of  livelihood,  bought  land,  and 
have  since  attained  an  independence  of  which,  if  it 
were  possible,  it  would  be  extremely  unwise  and  im 
politic  to  deprive  them  by  compulsory  legislation. 

6.  Because  the  planter  steadily  refuses  to  co-operate 
with  the  small  settler,  and  to  accept  his  services  in 
the  cultivation  of  the  cane  under  the  Metairie  or  any 
other  system.     In  the  management  of  his  estate  he 
insists,  as  a  sine  qua  non,  that  his  tenant  shall  be  his 
laborer,  and  that  his  relations  with  the  latter  shall  be 
strictly  those  of  master  and  servant. 

7.  Because  want  of  means  on  divers  estates  led  to 
unpunctual  payment.      In   some  cases  the  laborers 
were  not  paid  for  months ;  in  others  their  wages  were 
cut  down  or  not  liquidated  at  all;  and  this,  though 
an  exception  and  not  a  rule,  created  a  wide-spread  and 
general  distrust  most  injurious  to  the  planting  in 
terest. 

8.  Because  a  strong  prejudice  exists  in  the  minds 
of  the  Creole  population  against  field  labor,  which,  in 
other  days,  was  the  badge  of  slavery ;  and  no  efforts 
have  been  made  to  remove  this  prejudice,  either  by 
educating  the  masses,  or  by  elevating  the  work  itself 
to  the  dignity  of  honest,  independent  industry.     Many 
of  the  dissenting  ministers,  whether  rightly  or  wrong 
ly  I  will  not  pretend  to  decide,  advise  their  people 
not  to  work  on  estates  when  they  can  find  other  em 
ployment. 

9.  Because  economy  of  labor  is  practically  ignored 


294      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

in  Jamaica ;  labor  is  wasted,  and  labor-saving  arts  are 
unknown. 

10.  Because  the  governing  classes  have  shamefully 
neglected  the  welfare  of  the  masses.     They  have  not 
made  the  annual  decline  of  population  a  subject  of 
earnest  consideration,  nor  have  they  essayed  to  check 
it  by  the  adoption  of  the  most  ordinary  precautions. 

11.  Because  the  native  laboring  force  of  the  island 
has  been  weakened  by  large  emigration  to  the  adjoin 
ing  continent — especially  to  Panama,  while  the  rail 
road  across  that  isthmus  was  in  course  of  construction. 

12.  Because  the  laboring  force  of  the  island  has 
been  decimated  by  cholera  and  small-pox.     It  is  sup 
posed  that,  from  these  visitations,  upward  of  30,000 
people  died. 

13.  Because  the   character  of  the  labor  that  the 
planter  can  now  command  is  essentially  transient; 
and,  if  the  supply  were  sufficient  in  mere  numbers,  its 
uncertainty,  at  particular   seasons,  deters   capitalists 
from  undertaking  sugar  manufacture  in  Jamaica,  and 
cramps  the  energies  of  those  present  proprietors  who 
are  able  to  extend  their  operations  and  improve  their 
estates. 

I  confess  that  if  none  of  these  reasons  existed — if 
the  planters  of  Jamaica  could  command  a  plentiful 
supply  of  labor  for  all  present  necessities,  I  should 
still  advocate  immigration  in  view  of  the  mere  fact 
that  three  million  acres  of  cheap  unplanted  land  are 
open  for  settlement,  that  the  soil  of  the  island  is  won 
derfully  productive,  and  its  climate  salubrious.  These 
arguments  do  not  encroach  upon  debatable  ground. 
The  advocate  of  immigration  may  consistently  refuse 
to  believe  that  the  planting  interest  is  paramount,  or 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  295 

he  may  treat  with  indifference  the  consideration  that, 
with  population,  Jamaica  could  export  500,000  in 
stead  of  30,000  hogsheads.  There  are  reasons,  other 
than  those  given  by  the  planter,  in  favor  of  immigra 
tion,  and  (that  I  know  of)  not  a  valid  one  against  it. 
They  are  reasons  that  must  weigh  with  statesmen  and 
patriots,  if  there  are  any  in  Jamaica,  and  with  En 
glishmen  who  care  for  the  prosperity  of  one  of  the 
most  splendid  dependencies  of  the  empire.  I  do  not 
speak  of  political  reasons  which  make  the  coloniza 
tion  of  Jamaica  a  matter  of  the  last  importance  to 
British  commerce  in  these  seas.  They  are  obvious 
enough  while  the  United  States,  on  the  one  hand,  are 
coveting  Cuba,  and  France,  on  the  other,  is  fostering 
her  West  Indian  possessions  and  seeking  to  enlarge 
them.  The  most  forcible  argument  that  can  be  urged 
in  favor  of  immigration  is  that  Jamaica  now  supports 
a  population  of  350,000,  when  she  could  support  with 
ease  a  population  of  4,000,000 ;  that,  capable  of  yield 
ing  every  article  of  tropical  growth,  her  resources 
have  remained  undeveloped  and  her  wealth  almost 
unknown  during  two  centuries  of  occupation.  There 
have  been  costly  attempts  to  raise  cotton  in  Africa 
and  India ;  but  here,  in  Jamaica,  within  fifteen  days' 
steaming  of  London,  cotton  grows  wild,  and  labor  for 
its  cultivation  is  the  only  desideratum. 

It  is  deplorable  that  Jamaica,  every  where  regard 
ed  as  a  representative  of  the  emancipation  experi 
ment,  should  have  been  the  special  victim  of  a  mis 
taken  philanthropy  —  that  immigration,  upon  which 
free  labor  and  the  island's  prosperity  so  largely  de 
pended,  should  have  been  opposed  and  discouraged  in 
England,  or  even  left  to  the  management  of  a  bank- 


296      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

rupt  and  broken-down  provincial  interest.  By  such 
a  course  the  people  of  England,  under  a  mistaken  ap 
prehension  of  the  true  issue,  flung  away  their  oppor 
tunity  to  vindicate,  in  this  island,  the  rightful  superi 
ority  of  free  labor ;  though,  with  curious  perversity, 
they  seized  and  turned  to  profitable  account  a  similar 
opportunity  in  the  Mauritius,  Guiana,  and  Trinidad. 

The  advantages  to  be  derived  from  an  immigration 
based  on  colonizing  principles — and  the  British  gov 
ernment  countenances  no  other — can  not  be  disputed. 
Carried  out  on  a  large  and  liberal  scale,  its  first  palpa 
ble  effect  in  Jamaica  would  be  to  restore  a  confidence 
that  has  been  torn  up  root  and  branch.  It  would 
bring  capital,  and  capital  would  bring  re-enforcements 
to  the  white  population  now  seriously  threatened  with 
extinction.  It  would  remove  prevailing  poverty,  and 
check  its  demoralizing  influences.  It  would  enable 
the  planter  to  free  himself  from  debt,  and  extend  and 
improve  the  cultivation  of  his  cane-fields.  His  labor 
would  be  cheaper  than  slave  labor,  and,  other  things 
being  made  equal,  he  would  be  able  to  compete  suc 
cessfully  with  the  Cuban  planter.  An  extension  of 
sugar-cultivation  would  be  immediately  followed  by 
an  increased  demand  for  the  superior  kind  of  labor 
that  the  Creole  prefers,  and  that  he  alone  is  capable 
of  rendering.  It  is  mere  folly  to  say  that  he  would 
be  supplanted  in  his  own  market.  Immigration  can 
not  be  otherwise  than  beneficial  to  him.  It  would 
open  to  him  a  wider  field  of  exertion ;  his  services 
would  be  more  wanted,  would  be  better  remunerated, 
and  would  be  willingly  received  on  his  own  terms ;  his 
provision-grounds  would  yield  him  a  larger  income ; 
he  would  altogether  emerge  from  the  serfdom  of  estate 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  297 

labor,  and,  as  a  mechanic,  a  skillful  workman,  or  farm 
er,  would  help  to  build  up  the  middle  class  of  Jamai 
ca.  The  immigrant  laborer  is  not  introduced  as  the 
Creole's  competitor.  He  is  introduced  to  displace  no 
one,  but  to  fill  a  blank  in  the  civil  and  social  condi 
tion  of  the  island.  Unless  field  labor  in  this  climate 
receives  constant  re-enforcement,  cultivation  not  mere 
ly  stands  still,  but  retrogrades.  The  friends  of  free 
dom  have  only  to  insist  that  the  liberties  of  the  immi 
grant  laborer  shall  be  carefully  guarded — that  he  shall 
not  be  made  the  slave  of  any  particular  interest — and 
he,  of  all  others,  becomes  most  benefited  by  the. 
change.  He  is  removed  from  the  over-populated  dis 
tricts  of  the  East  to  these  sparsely-settled  islands  of 
the  West,  at  no  expense  to  himself  and  with  no  mis 
givings  about  the  future,  for  the  first  time  in  his 
life  he  is  adequately  paid  for  his  work,  and  for  the 
first  time  the  path  of  social  and  moral  progress  is 
opened  to  him.  Immigration  must  further  the  cause 
of  civilization.  By  abolishing  female  labor  on  estates, 
it  will  create  among  the  Creole  population  a  respect 
for  the  sex,  now  terribly  wanting,  and  will  arrest  one 
of  the  principal  sources  of  degrading  immorality. 
These  are  not  fanciful  expectations ;  but  results  that 
have  flowed  directly  from  immigration  in  Trinidad, 
Guiana,  and  the  Mauritius.  It  can  be  shown  in  all 
these  colonies  that  exports  have  multiplied  —  that 
planters  have  relieved  their  properties  of  debt — that 
the  investment  of  capital  has  recommenced  —  that 
Creoles  and  immigrants  have  both,  in  their  respective 
spheres,  materially  improved,  and  live  together  in  per 
fect  harmony  and  contentment. 

The  Indian  coolie,  after  the  Creole,  is  the  favorite 
N2 


298      THE  OKDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

laborer  in  the  British  colonies.  In  point  of  fact,  the 
West  Indian  planter  can  only  choose  between  the 
coolie  and  the  Chinaman.  The  African  can  not  be 
procured  without  encouraging  wars  on  his  own  conti 
nent  and  giving  an  indirect  support  to  the  slave-trade; 
and  his  introduction  into  any  of  the  British  posses 
sions  is  not  contemplated,  and  will  not  be  tolerated 
by  the  English  people.  The  Chinaman  is  not  liked  ; 
he  is  close,  cunning,  avaricious,  unprogressive,  quar 
relsome,  and  seldom  becomes  a  permanent  colonist. 
His  habits  of  life  are  repulsive  both  to  Creole  and 
European.  In  California  and  Australia  the  Chinese 
have  been  an  unproductive  and  injurious  element  of 
the  population.  They  would  never  make  for  Jamai 
ca  a  thriving  peasantry  such  as  it  is  her  object  to  se 
cure.  The  Indian  coolie,  on  the  other  hand,  is  found 
to  be  docile,  peaceable,  intelligent,  industrious,  eager 
to  learn,  and  apt  at  improvement.  He  is,  moreover,  a 
British  subject,  and  his  transportation,  at  his  own  free 
option,  from  one  portion  of  the  empire  to  another,  is 
conducted  with  the  most  jealous  protection  of  his 
rights  and  the  most  careful  regard  for  his  interests. 

I  know  that,  in  the  United  States,  British  immigra 
tion  to  the  West  Indies  has  been  confounded,  and  most 
unjustly  confounded,  with  immigration  to  French  and 
Spanish  islands,  and  I  have  made,  on  this  account,  a 
special  study  of  its  prominent  features.  Familiar,  too, 
with  its  practical  working,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say 
that  the  immigrant  is  as  free  as  any  other  laborer,  un 
der  contract,  in  the  British  dominions.  He  has,  more 
over,  privileges  which  laborers  who  emigrate  to  other 
countries  do  not  enjoy.  His  prospects  are  not  even 
doubtful,  for,  from  the  day  he  arrives,  he  is  supplied 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  299 

with  work,  or  with  lodging  and  provisions  until  work 
can  be  obtained.  He  is  employed  at  the  current  rate 
of  wages,  of  which  a  minimum  is  fixed  by  law.  He 
is  guaranteed  proper  medical  attendance,  and  govern 
ment  officers  are  appointed  for  the  express  purpose 
of  protecting  him  and  affording  him  immediate  re 
dress  in  the  event  of  any  possible  wrong.  The  plant 
er  is  powerless  to  exact  from  his  laborer  more  than 
the  terms  of  the  contract  into  which  both  have  enter 
ed  ;  and  that  these  terms  are  perfectly  fair  and  liberal 
I  shall  presently  undertake  to  show.  I  have  already 
explained  the  system  of  immigration  that  obtains  in 
other  colonies,  and  shall  only  observe  here  the  pecul 
iarities  of  the  Jamaica  law  which  came  into  force  in 
1858. 

By  the  provisions  of  this  act  the  immigrant  laborer 
is  entitled,  free  of  all  charges,  to  a  certificate  of  "  in 
dustrial  residence"  after  he  has  worked  five  years  un 
der  indenture.  He  can  shorten  this  term  of  service, 
and  receive  his  certificate,  by  paying  a  commutation 
fee  of  $20  at  the  end  of  the  third  year,  or  of  $10  at  the 
end  of  the  fourth  year.  At  the  end  of  the  second 
year,  and  of  each  subsequent  year,  he  can,  at  his  own 
election,  change  his  employer,  and  give  his  service  to 
whomsoever  he  pleases.  The  contract  between  the 
immigrant  and  his  employer  explains  the  obligations 
of  both,  and  is  thus  worded : 

JAMAICA,  ss. — This  indenture  made  the  10th  day 
of  February,  1860,  between  Oh  Swanne,  immigrant 
laborer,  of  the  one  part,  and  John  Jones,  of  St.  Thom- 
as-in-the-Vale,  in  the  said  island,  of  the  other  part, 
witnesseth:  That  in  virtue  of  "the  immigration  act  of 


300      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FEEE  LABOR  IN 

1858,"  and  in  consideration  of  the  covenants  of  the 
said  John  Jones,  hereinafter  contained,  he  the  said  Oh 
Swanne  doth  bind  himself  to  the  said  John  Jones  for 
the  term  of  five  years,  to  be  computed  from  the  date 
hereof ;  and  doth  hereby  covenant  with  the  said  John 
Jones,  that  he,  the  said  Oh  Swanne,  will,  during  the 
said  term,  or  the  continuation  of  these  presents,  truly 
and  faithfully  serve  the  said  John  Jones,  his  heirs  and 
assigns,  as  laborer  on  the  Silver  Spring  estate,  in  the 
parish  of  St.  Thomas-in -the- Vale,  according  to  the  laws 
and  regulations  made  concerning  immigrant  laborers 
in  this  island ;  and  the  said  John  Jones  doth  hereby 
covenant  with  the  said  Oh  Swanne,  that  he,  the  said 
John  Jones,  will,  during  the  said  term,  or  the  contin 
uance  of  these  presents,  provide  the  said  Oh  Swanne 
with  suitable  and  sufficient  lodging,  medicine,  and 
medical  attendance ;  and  such  medicine,  medical  at 
tendance,  and  lodging  shall  be  in  conformity  with  the 
laws  or  regulations  made  concerning  immigrant  labor 
ers  in  this  island ;  and  also  will  pay  wages  to  the  said 
Oh  Swanne  at  the  same  rate  which  may  be  at  the 
time  paid  to  the  laborers,  not  under  written  agree 
ment,  working  on  the  said  estate,  according  to  the 
quantity  of  work  performed,  being  at  the  rate  of  not 

less  than per  diem,  subject  to  deductions  at  the 

following  rate  (for  medical  attendance,  lodging,  and 
repayment  of  advances,  if  such  have  been  made).  In 
witness  whereof  we  have  hereunto  set  our  hands. 

(Signed)  OH  SWANNE, 

(Witnesses.)  JOHN  JONES. 

Under  this  contract  the  immigrant  either  works  out 
his  five  years'  term  or  pays  the  commutation ;  and  in 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  301 

either  event  he  receives  the  "  certificate"  which  frees 
him  from  service  and  conveys  the  right  of  naturaliza 
tion.  While  under  contract  he  may  be  a  landed  pro 
prietor,  and  cultivate  for  himself,  provided  he  does 
not  neglect  the  service  due  every  day,  Sundays  and 
holidays  excepted,  to  his  employer.  After  his  con 
tract  has  expired,  and  he  has  obtained  his  certificate, 
he  may  return  home  at  his  own  expense,  or,  if  he 
choose  to  remain  in  the  island  another  five  years,  he 
may  then  return  home  at  the  expense  of  the  colony, 
or  receive,  instead  of  this  privilege,  ten  acres  of  land 
exempt  from  taxation  during  three  years.  The  wis 
dom  of  this  provision,  or  of  any  other  that  holds  out 
inducements  to  permanent  settlement  can  not  be  ques 
tioned.  Colonization,  and  not  a  temporary  supply  of 
labor,  is  the  chief  object  to  be  attained.  The  princi 
ple  of  granting  back  passages,  and  allowing  immi 
grants  no  choice  but  to  accept  them,  is,  in  my  judg 
ment,  an  erroneous  one.  It  is  not  sound  political 
economy,  nor  is  it  just  to  the  people  who  bear  the 
burden  of  the  immigration  outlay.  It  looks  like  an 
expiation  of  some  wrong  inflicted  on  the  coolie,  and 
is  so  interpreted  abroad.  It  offers  a  bonus  to  the  im 
migrant  to  go  away  after  he  has  become  an  efficient, 
acclimated  laborer.  To  offer  him  a  bonus  to  stay 
would  be  the  wiser  policy. 

It  only  remains  to  add  that,  under  the  Jamaica  law 
of  1858,  the  entire  expense  of  immigration  is  imposed 
upon  the  planting  interest.  This  is  the  interest,  it  is 
true,  which  the  importation  of  labor  is  chiefly  design 
ed  to  benefit ;  but  there  can  not  be  a  doubt,  if  the  ex 
perience  of  other  islands  be  accepted  as  an  indication 
of  the  result  in  Jamaica,  that  the  benefit  to  the  plant- 


302      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

er  will  be  shared  by  the  merchant,  the  stock-breeder, 
the  mechanic,  and  the  settler. 

Such  are  the  main  features  of  the  Jamaican  immi 
gration  law  to  which  the  sanction  of  the  imperial  gov 
ernment  was  so  reluctantly  given.  The  law  is  quite 
as  favorable  to  the  liberties  of  the  immigrant  as  any 
similar  law  in  Trinidad,  Guiana,  or  the  Mauritius,  and 
yet  the  most  strenuous  exertions  were  made  in  England 
to  have  it  vetoed.  The  Anti-slavery  Society  exerted 
their  powerful  influence  against  its  passage,  and  me 
morialized  government  with  objections  either  untrue 
in  fact  or  illogical  in  argument.  They  "denied  the 
scarcity  of  available  labor,"  though  men  of  all  parties 
in  the  island,  and  of  wide  experience,  thought  differ 
ently,  and  so  expressed  themselves.  They  objected 
to  "  wages  being  fixed  arbitrarily  by  the  proprietor," 
when  the  immigrant's  contract  distinctly  stated  that 
he  should  be  paid  at  the  current  rate.  They  found 
fault  with  a  scheme  of  immigration  that  "  imposed  a 
tax  on  the  whole  colony,"  when  the  law  clearly  pro 
vided  that  the  expense  should  be  borne  altogether  by 
the  planter.  They  urged  that  the  measure  "would 
reduce  the  present  inadequate  rate  of  wages  paid  to 
Creole  laborers,"  when,  judging  from  the  experience 
of  other  colonies,  it  w^ould,  on  the  contrary,  increase 
the  rate  of  wages,  and  procure  for  the  Creole  more 
lucrative  and  more  satisfactory  employment.  They 
deprecated  "  the  introduction  of  pagans  and  idolaters," 
when,  by  this  very  introduction,  these  pagans  and  idol 
aters  are  civilized  and  christianized.  They  deplored 
the  consequences  of  "an  African  immigration,"  when 
none  was  in  contemplation.  They  represented  that 
the  immigrant  "was  not  allowed  to  choose  his  own 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  303 

master,"  which  was  only  so  far  true  that  for  two  years, 
and  no  longer,  the  laborer's  employer  is  selected,  for 
very  obvious  reasons,  by  an  immigrant  agent,  who  is 
an  appointee  of  the  crown,  and  responsible  for  all  his 
acts.  They  made  out  a  mortality  on  shipboard,  and 
after  arrival,  not  warranted  by  fact.  There  has  been 
mortality,  undoubtedly,  among  West  Indian  immi 
grants,  but  nothing  like  the  percentage  alleged.  It 
arose  in  one  case  from  an  outbreak  of  cholera,  and  in 
others  from  an  unwise  selection  of  sickly  emigrants. 
Except  in  these  cases  the  average  of  deaths  among  the 
people  has  not  been  greater  than  it  would  have  been 
if  they  remained  at  home.  The  Anti-slavery  Society 
farther  pretended  that  the  Jamaica  law  "  did  not  suf 
ficiently  provide  for  the  protection  of  the  immigrant," 
when  it  appeared  that  officers  were  created  for  this 
very  purpose,  in  the  interest  of  immigrants  exclusive 
ly,  and  armed  with  special  powers  of  supervision  and 
interference.  They  finally  concluded  that  the  measure 
"  was  not  wished  for  by  the  masses,"  though  it  was 
passed  by  their  representatives,  without  a  single  dis 
senting  petition,  and  with  the  support  of  every  journal 
in  the  island. 

Untenable  as  these  objections  were,  the  opposition 
that  pressed  them  was  unyielding  and  powerful.  Such 
a  hostile  spirit  can  only  be  explained  by  the  existence 
of  a  very  strong  distrust  of  all  measures  emanating,  or 
supposed  to  emanate,  from  the  planting  interest.  And 
this  distrust  is  not  difficult  to  account  for.  While  the 
planters  of  other  days  were  making  representations 
of  a  great  dearth  of  labor,  they  were  driving  Creole 
labor  from  the  estates  by  a  mistaken  policy  and  op 
pressive  legislation.  While  they  were  bankrupt,  ruin- 


304      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

ed,  and  appealing  for  aid,  they  untruthfully  pretended 
that  Creole  indolence  was  the  cause  of  their  misfor 
tunes.  While  they  proclaimed  that  immigration  was 
their  only  hope,  their  own  schemes  of  immigration 
were  being  grossly  mismanaged,  and  ultimately  turned 
out  most  pitiful  failures.  It  is  not  generally  known 
outside  the  island  that,  at  various  times  since  eman 
cipation,  over  17,000  immigrants — Africans,  Indians, 
Chinese,  American  negroes,  and  Europeans — have  been 
brought  to  Jamaica.  I  do  not  believe  that  one  tenth 
of  this  number  can  be  found  upon  estates  to-day. 
Immigration  agents  abroad  appear  to  have  lacked  the 
sense  or  the  honesty  (for  they  were  paid  so  much  per 
capita)  to  select  their  men  from  an  agricultural  popu 
lation  ;  the  coolies  were  picked  up  in  the  streets  of 
Calcutta ;  the  Europeans  were  idlers  from  large  cities ; 
the  American  negroes  were  mechanics  and  tradesmen ; 
and  the  Africans,  with  some  coolie  exceptions,  were 
the  only  serviceable  field  laborers.  A  quarter  of  a 
million  sterling  was  expended,  and  the  island  is  still 
in  debt  for  a  portion  of  the  sum  wasted  in  these  fruit 
less  efforts.  It  is  not  surprising,  therefore,  that  fresh 
immigration  measures  should  be  opposed  by  an  or 
ganization  that  assumes  a  protectorate  over  West  In 
dian  interests,  and  undoubtedly  represents  a  prepon 
derating  English  sentiment.  Under  former  immigra 
tion  laws  the  planters  of  Jamaica  paid  only  two  thirds 
of  the  expense ;  but  under  the  present  law,  as  a  pen 
alty  for  past  mismanagement,  and  a  concession  to  the 
opposition  that  they  have  with  such  difficulty  combat 
ed,  they  have  to  bear  the  whole  burden  of  expenditure. 
The  present  scheme  of  immigration  is,  in  fact,  a  victo 
ry  of  the  Anti-slavery  party  of  Jamaica,  whose  views 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  305 

the  planters  Lave  been  compelled  to  adopt.  A  few 
years  ago  the  proprietors  scouted  any  plan  that  did 
not  indenture  the  laborers  for  ten  years.  They  are 
now  content  that  the  indenture  shall  not  exceed  two 
or  three  years — sufficient  to  guarantee  the  planter  a 
return  for  his  outlay,  and  to  give  the  laborer  a  neces 
sary  industrial  training.  The  Jamaica  law  of  1858 
was  opposed  in  England,  very  unwisely  as  I  think, 
and  much  more  strenuously  than  it  was  opposed  even 
by  ultraists  within  the  colony.  It  can  not,  under  any 
circumstances,  be  considered  a  triumph  of  the  plant 
ing  interest ;  it  is  rather  a  fair  expression  of  the  liberal 
public  sentiment  of  the  island  on  a  much  debated 
question  of  the  highest  importance.  A  separate  bill 
authorizes  the  governor  to  borrow  sums  not  exceeding 
£50,000  sterling  in  one  year,  to  defray  the  charges  of 
immigration  in  the  first  instance,  and  these  sums  are 
to  be  repaid  by  employers  in  ten  semi-annual  instal 
ments. 

Legislation  on  the  subject  of  immigration  can  do 
no  more  for  Jamaica  than  it  has  done.  The  island  is 
now  waiting  for  the  capital,  the  energy,  and  the  prac 
tical  ability  necessary  to  carry  out  its  laws.  The  op 
position  of  the  Anti-slavery  Society  has  been  silenced, 
and  the  planters  of  Jamaica  are  at  liberty  to  bring  in 
50,000  coolie  laborers  within  a  year;  but  who  be 
lieves  they  will  do  it?  If  it  was  true  that  they  were 
in  such  desperate  straits  for  labor — if  it  was  true  that 
labor,  and  not  capital,  was  their  most  pressing  want — 
why  are  not  a  dozen  ships  laden  with  coolies  now  on 
their  way  from  Madras  to  Kingston  ?  There  is  a  law 
on  the  Jamaica  statute-book  authorizing  the  introduc 
tion  of  labor  on  private  account,  provided  that  the 


306      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FEEE  LABOK  IN 

contract  between  employer  and  immigrant  shall  be 
binding  for  only  three  years,  and  that  the  latter  be 
paid  -the  current  rate  of  wages.  Why  are  not  the 
planters,  who  complain  that  their  capital  is  lying  idle, 
and  their  estates  going  to  ruin  for  want  of  labor,  avail 
ing  themselves  of  this  special  enactment  in  their  fa 
vor  ?  The  burden  of  all  that  I  have  written  is  an  an 
swer  to  these  questions,  and  if  it  is  not  I  have  been 
writing  to  a  vain  purpose. 

Immigration  for  Jamaica  should  be  advocated  whol 
ly  irrespective  of  the  deficiency  of  labor  to  meet  pres 
ent  demands,  and  upon  a  broader  basis  than  that  of 
building  up  the  planting  interest,  or  giving  it  any  un 
due  preponderance.  That  was  the  wrong  of  slavery. 
The  planting  interest  is,  I  believe,  the  most  important 
money  interest  at  stake,  and  should  not  be  cramped 
or  checked  in  its  legitimate  expansion ;  but  it  should 
not,  on  the  other  hand,  be  fostered  at  the  expense  of 
other  interests.  When  that  happens,  it  necessarily 
and  naturally  becomes  oligarchic,  selfish  in  its  aims 
and  purposes,  opposed  to  popular  enlightenment,  edu 
cation,  and  moral  discipline.  Immigration  should  be 
advocated  on  the  ground  that  the  island  is  capable  of 
sustaining  forty  people  where  it  now  sustains  four. 
Every  class  of  its  inhabitants — planters,  settlers,  la 
borers — all  want  the  new  life  that  immigration  only 
can  give  them.  They  all  belong  to  a  past  age ;  and 
even  those  that  float  upon  the  surface  of  Jamaica's 
ruin  are  but  wrecks  of  a  demolished  system.  New 
men,  with  new  ideas — men  of  perseverance,  energy, 
capital — men  determined  to  face  the  responsibilities 
and  difficulties  of  their  position — men  willing  to  work, 
no  matter  whence  they  come — would  soon  startle  Ja- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  307 

maica  from  her  apathy  and  stupor.  There  are  such 
men  in  the  island  now;  their  estates  flourish;  they 
make  fortunes ;  they  find  labor ;  but  they  are  excep 
tions — their  influence  is  limited.  I  do  not  doubt 
that,  before  long,  they  will  be  representatives  of  the 
Jamaica  proprietary  interest.  Their  examples  must 
be  beneficial.  They  must  eventually  open  the  eyes 
of  the  world  to  the  undeveloped  resources  of  this  isl 
and,  and  to  the  wealth  that  it  is  yet  destined  to  yield. 
Jamaica  was  ruined  by  its  proprietary,  and  in  its 
proprietary  the  hope  of  redemption  lies.  They  have 
the  experience  of  their  predecessors  to  profit  by.  The 
work  that  they  have  to  perform  they  must  perform 
themselves,  and  not  find  consolation  in  the  maudlin 
belief  that  it  will  ever  be  performed  by  others.  They 
may  enrich  themselves,  as  their  predecessors  did,  by 
the  re-introduction  of  serf  labor,  but  if  they  neglect, 
as  their  predecessors  did,  to  educate  the  people,  and 
give  them  sound  moral  and  industrial  training,  they 
will  establish,  at  best,  a  fictitious  prosperity  that  the 
first  storm  will  sweep  away.  Their  schemes  of  im 
migration  will  fail  if  the  main  object  of  colonization 
is  forgotten.  They  will  fail  if  the  welfare  of  the  peo 
ple  is  again  made  subservient  to  a  mere  money  inter 
est.  They  will  fail  if  no  discrimination  is  used  in  the 
selection  of  laborers,  who  are  to  become  at  a  future 
period  the  mainstay  of  the  island.  They  will  fail  if, 
after  the  introduction  of  immigrants,  they  are  turned 
into  beasts  of  burden,  and  slavery,  under  another 
name,  is  reinstated.  Their  schemes  of  immigration 
will  fail  if  there  is  a  want  of  capital  to  carry  them  out 
— not  by  driblets — but  on  a  scale  sufficiently  extend 
ed  to  insure  success.  They  will  fail  if,  finally,  false 


308      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

representations  are  made  to  seduce  laborers  to  the  isl 
and,  and  expectations  are  held  out  to  them  that  can 
not  be  realized.  I  have  seen  a  circular  in  Canadian 
journals  offering  colored  laborers  who  will  emigrate 
to  Jamaica  wages  "  varying  from  fifty  cents  to  one  dol 
lar  and  fifty  cents,  and  even  two  dollars  a  day."  Now 
a  field  laborer  in  Jamaica  can  not  earn  any  of  these 
sums  throughout  the  year.  It  will  take  a  very  good 
and  very  industrious  laborer  to  earn  fifty  cents  for 
one  hundred  out  of  the  three  hundred  and  sixty -five 
days.  But  neither  Canada  nor  the  United  States, 
where  wages  are  so  high,  are  places  to  look  for  mere 
laborers.  The  American  negro  may  make  a  good 
farmer  or  settler  for  Jamaica,  but  to  perform  inferior 
service  in  a  dependent  position  he  can  not  be  obtain 
ed  in  available  numbers. 

Upon  the  colonizing  principle  Jamaica  is  ready  to 
receive  and  sustain  a  million  of  free,  intelligent,  and 
industrious  laborers.  And  not  alone  laborers.  The 
island  is  in  want  of  settlers  and  farmers  from  Europe 
or  America,  who  will  stimulate,  by  the  force  of  exam 
ple,  the  sluggish  energy  of  the  Creole  peasantry — who 
will  teach  them  to  economize  the  labor  that  they 
waste,  to  cultivate  more  wisely,  and  to  reap  more 
abundantly — who  will  introduce  among  them  com 
forts  of  which  they  are  now  utterly  ignorant — who 
will  create  an  independent  public  opinion,  and  who 
will  elevate  the  middle  classes  of  Jamaica  far  above 
the  present  standard  of  questionable  civilization.  If 
the  advantages  of  this  colony  had  ever  been  fairly 
placed  before  the  world,  and  a  cheap  line  of  travel  es 
tablished,  there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  many  of 
the  British  and  German  emigrants  who  wandered  to 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  309 

the  Rio  de  la  Plata,  the  Brazils,  and  the  sickly  slopes 
of  the  Amazon,  would  have  turned  their  steps  hither- 
ward,  where  the  climate  is  so  salubrious,  the  land  so 
fertile,  and  political  equality  so  fully  recognized.  A 
few  settlers  of  this  kind  distributed  throughout  the 
different  parishes  could  not  fail  to  stimulate  Creole 
enterprise,  and,  with  abundance  of  labor  to  satisfy 
the  demands  not  only  of  the  planting  interest,  but  of 
all  other  interests,  down  to  those  of  the  settler  himself, 
there  need  be  no  speculation  about  the  future  of  the 
island  or  the  ultimate  triumph  of  the  free  system. 
Acquainted,  as  I  profess  to  be,  with  her  wonderful  re 
sources  and  the  immense  field  for  industry  that  she 
offers,  I  can  not  refuse  to  believe  that  there  is  in  store 
for  Jamaica  a  prosperity  that  she  never  approached 
in  her  days  of  barbaric  grandeur.  For,  if  her  present 
proprietary  are  unequal  to  the  work  of  regeneration, 
others  will  be  found  to  take  it  up  and  carry  it  out  to 
the  uttermost  limit  of  completion. 


810      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

RESUME. 

Bridgetown,  Barbados,  1860. 

I  HAVE  endeavored,  and  I  hope  successfully,  to  show 
that  each  of  the  British  West  India  colonies  has  had 
its  own  distinct  and  separate  history,  its  own  elements 
of  prosperity,  its  own  resources  to  develop,  its  own 
political  and  social  evils  to  eradicate,  its  own  policy 
to  pursue,  its  own  destiny  to  work  out.  I  have  en 
deavored  to  combat  the  error  of  judging  the  islands 
by  rules  that  might  apply  to  a  continental  dependen 
cy,  and  of  tracing  their  depression,  past  or  present, 
to  the  same  or  to  a  single  origin.  The  fact  that  some 
islands  need  immigration,  while  others  do  not — that 
some  are  being  colonized  with  Asiatics,  while  others 
are  already  densely  peopled  with  Africans — points 
out  the  mistake  of  supposing  their  fortunes  identical, 
or  their  cases  exactly  parallel.  Emancipation,  it  is 
true,  was  granted  to  all  at  the  same  time  and  on  the 
same  conditions;  but  it  was  admitted  to  each  island 
under  different  auspices,  and  breathed  in  each  a  dif 
ferent  atmosphere.  In  Jamaica — where  slavery  was 
the  primary  formation  upon  which  the  social  and  po 
litical  structures  rested,  and  the  revolution  to  be  ef 
fected  was  most  comprehensive — the  change  was  res 
olutely  and  systematically  opposed  by  a  powerful 
plantocracy.  Freedom,  in  Jamaica,  was  met  and  en- 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  311 

countered  at  every  point,  and  found,  among  the  gov 
erning  classes,  a  very  limited  number  of  willing  work 
ers.  In  the  small  and  comparatively  unimportant 
island  of  Antigua,  freedom  was  received  by  the  mo 
nopolists  of  the  day,  if  not  with  cordiality,  at  least  as 
an  innovation  which  they  were  forced  to  accept,  and 
which  merited,  under  the  circumstances,  a  fair  and  im 
partial  trial.  Emancipation  was  an  isolated  experi 
ment  in  each  of  the  different  colonies.  Precedents 
and  rules  of  action  for  one  were  no  precedents  or  rules 
of  action  for  another.  Here  there  were  obstacles  to 
overcome  and  difficulties  to  surmount  which  there  did 
not  exist,  or  existed  only  in  a  mitigated  form.  Each 
colony  was  a  field  of  battle  upon  which  the  banners 
of  free  labor  and  slave  labor  were  flung  to  the  winds ; 
and  while  in  some,  where  resistance  was  feeble,  all 
trace  of  the  contest  has  disappeared,  and  prosperity 
has  revived,  in  others,  where  resistance  was  strong  and 
determined,  the  exhaustion  that  follows  a  long  war 
and  a  long  reign  of  oppression  weighs  heavily  upon 
a  dispirited  people.  Let  us  not  be  deceived.  Let  us 
not  misinterpret  the  true  meaning  of  Jamaica's  deso 
lation  at  the. present  time.  Let  no  one  be  so  mad  as 
to  believe  that  it  is  the  work  of  freedom.  Let  no  one 
fancy  that  even  an  aristocracy  were  ruined  by  the 
system  from  which  they  so  long  and  so  stubbornly 
withheld  their  allegiance.  Let  no  one  question  the 
victory,  though  its  choioest  fruits  are  yet  to  be  reaped ; 
let  no  one  doubt  that  freedom,  when  it  overturned  a 
despotism  and  crushed  a  monopoly,  unshackled,  at  the 
same  time,  the  commerce,  the  industry,  and  the  intel 
ligence  of  the  islands,  and  laid  the  foundations  of  per 
manent  prosperity. 


312      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FKEE  LABOR  IN 

I  have  addressed  myself  exclusively  to  the  argu 
ment  of  the  planter,  for  his  pretension  is,  in  reality, 
the  only  one  to  be  disputed.  It  could  not  have  been 
expected  that  he  would  act  otherwise  than  he  did.  It 
was  his  part  to  resist.  The  new  system  was  meant  to 
effect  a  radical  change  in  plantation  management,  and 
it  was  only  natural  for  the  proprietor  to  look  upon 
any  change  that  he  had  not  proved  with  distrust  and 
aversion.  His  monopolies  and  his  privileges  were  to 
be  swept  away,  and  he  could  not  encourage  the 
scheme  that  doomed  them  to  destruction,  and  opened 
to  wide  competition  the  field  of  profit  he  had  hitherto 
exclusively  enjoyed.  Many  of  the  planters  went  down 
with  the  privileges  and  the  monopolies  by  which  alone 
they  had  managed  to  keep  afloat ;  but  are  the  Act  of 
Emancipation  and  the  abolition  of  a  protective  tariff 
to  be  condemned  because  they  tore  down  the  veil  of 
fictitious  prosperity  and  exposed  a  helpless  bankrupt 
cy  ?  Are  these  West  India  colonies  ruined  in  their 
sugar  interest,  or  any  other  interest,  because  some  five 
hundred  third-rate  sugar-planters  had  not  the  stamina, 
pluck,  capital,  strength,  wit,  or  what  you  please,  to 
stand  alone  when  the  props  of  favoritism  and  partial 
legislation  were  removed  ?  If  free  labor  be  tested  by 
any  other  gauge  than  that  of  sugar-production,  its 
success  in  the  West  Indies  is  established  beyond  all 
cavil  and  beyond  all  peradventure.  If  the  people 
merit  any  consideration  whatever — if  their  independ 
ence,  their  comfort,  their  industry,  their  education, 
form  any  part  of  a  country's  prosperity — then  the 
West  Indies  are  a  hundred-fold  more  prosperous  now 
than  they  were  in  the  most  flourishing  times  of  slav 
ery.  If  peace  be  an  element  of  prosperity — if  it  be 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  313 

important  to  enjoy  uninterrupted  tranquillity  and  be 
secure -from  servile  war  and  insurrection — then  the 
West  Indies  have  now  an  advantage  that  they  never 
possessed  before  it  was  given  them  by  emancipation. 
If  a  largely-extended  commerce  be  an  indication  of 
prosperity,  then  all  the  West  Indies,  Jamaica  alone 
excepted,  have  progressed  under  a  system  of  free  la 
bor,  although  that  system  hitherto  has  been  but  im 
perfectly  developed. 

I  have  endeavored  to  convey  a  correct  idea  of  the 
depreciation  of  commerce  and  the  decline  of  sugar- 
cultivation  in  Jamaica;  and  I  have  also  endeavored 
to  show  that  this  depreciation  is  an  exception  to  the 
present  general  prosperity  of  the  British  West  Indies 
— that  it  commenced  before  emancipation  was  pro 
jected,  and  can  be  traced  directly  to  other  causes 
than  the  introduction  of  freedom.  Long  before  Mr. 
Canning,  in  his  place  in  Parliament,  became  the  un 
willing  organ  of  the  national  will,  and  explained,  in 
terms  not  to  be  mistaken,  that  the  demand  of  the 
British  people  for  the  liberation  of  the  slaves  could 
no  longer  be  resisted,  West  India  commerce  was  in 
the  most  alarming  state  of  depression,  owing  to  the 
heavy  outlay  and  expenditure  that  a  system  of  slave 
labor  imperatively  required.  Testimony  pointing  di 
rectly  and  overwhelmingly  to  this  conclusion  has  been 
given  by  planters  themselves  —  by  men  put  forward 
as  the  special  champions  of  the  planting  interest — and 
fills  a  score  of  Parliamentary  Blue-books.  Upon  their 
statements  the  report  of  the  select  committee  on  the 
condition  of  the  West  India  colonies,  printed  in  1832, 
declared  that  "  there  was  abundant  evidence  of  an  ex 
isting  distress  for  ten  or  twelve  years  previous."  That 

0 


314      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

report  described  an  impending,  if  not  an  actual  ruin 
that  we  look  for  in  vain  at  the  present  day.  Jamaica, 
in  1860,  and  she  only  in  the  one  particular  of  sugar- 
cultivation,  is  the  single  British  island  whose  industry 
and  enterprise  remain,  as  we  are  told  they  formerly 
were,  exhausted  and  paralyzed. 

Let  us  appeal  once  more  to  figures.  The  colony  of 
British  Guiana,  for  four  years  prior  to  emancipation, 
exported  an  annual  average  of  98,000,000  Ibs.  of  su 
gar,  while,  from  1856  to  1860,  its  annual  average  ex 
port  rose  to  100,600,000  Ibs.  The  colony  of  Trini 
dad,  for  four  years  prior  to  emancipation,  annually  ex 
ported  an  average  of  37,000,000  Ibs*  of  sugar,  while, 
from  1856  to  1860,  its  annual  average  export  rose  to 
62,000,000  Ibs.  The  colony  of  Barbados,  for  four 
years  prior  to  emancipation,  annually  exported  an  av 
erage  of  32,800,000  Ibs.  of  sugar,  while,  from  1856  to 
1860,  its  annual  average  export  rose  to  78,000,000  Ibs. 
The  colony  of  Antigua,  for  four  years  prior  to  eman 
cipation,  exported  an  annual  average  of  19,500,000 
Ibs.  of  sugar,  while,  from  1856  to  1860,  its  annual  av 
erage  export  rose  to  24,400,000  Ibs.  This  is  a  total 
exhibit  of  265,000,000  Ibs.  annually  exported  now,  in 
stead  of  187,300,000  Ibs.  before  emancipation,  or  an 
excess  of  exports,  with  free  labor,  of  seventy-seven  million, 
seven  hundred  thousand  pounds  of  sugar. 

In  the  matter  of  imports,  we  find  that  the  colony  of 
British  Guiana,  between  the  years  1820  and  1834,  im 
ported  annually  to  the  value  of  $3,700,000 ;  that  the 
annual  imports  of  Trinidad,  during  the  same  period, 
averaged  in  value  $1,690,000;  that  the  imports  of 
Barbados  averaged  in  value  $2,850,000 ;  and  those  of 
Antigua  $600,000.  In  the  year  1859  the  imports  of 


THE   BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  315 

Guiana  were  valued  at  $5,660,000;  those  of  Trinidad 
at  $3,000,000 ;  those  of  Barbados  at  $4,660,000  ;  and 
those  of  Antigua  at  $1,280,000.  The  total  exhibit 
represents  an  annual  import  trade,  at  the  present  time, 
of  the  value  of  $14,600,000,  against  $8,840,000  before 
emancipation,  or  an  excess  of  imports,  under  a  free  sys 
tem,  of  the  value  of  jive  million^  seven  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand  dollars. 

In  the  exports  I  have  made  mention  of  sugar  only ; 
but  if  all  other  articles  of  commerce  be  included,  and 
a  comparison  be  instituted  between  the  import  and  ex 
port  trade  of  the  colonies  of  Guiana,  Trinidad,  Bar 
bados,  and  Antigua  under  slavery,  and  their  trade  un 
der  freedom,  the  annual  balance  in  favor  of  freedom 
will  be  found  to  have  reached  already  FIFTEEN  MIL 
LIONS  OF  DOLLARS  at  the  very  lowest  estimate. 

This  large  increase  in  the  trade  of  four  out  of  the 
five  principal  West  India  colonies  is  sufficient,  I  think, 
to  demonstrate  (were  there  no  other  evidence  at  hand) 
that  free  labor,  with  which  four  have  prospered,  can 
not  alone  be  held  responsible  for  the  decline  of  the 
fifth.  The  increase  of  sugar-production  also  demon 
strates  the  improved  industry  of  the  islands  to  a  very 
remarkable  extent;  for  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  agricultural  force  now  engaged  in  cane-cultivation 
is  scarcely  more  than  half  of  what  it  was  in  times  of 
slavery,  when  the  energies  of  the  whole  population 
were  directed  to  this  single  end.  One  of  the  most 
natural  and  legitimate  results  of  emancipation  was  to 
allow  every  man  to  do  what  seemed  to  him  best — to 
achieve  independence  if  he  could — to  pursue,  in  any 
case,  the  path  of  industry  most  agreeable  to  his  tastes, 
and  most  conducive  to  his  happiness.  When  we  look 


316      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

at  the  vast  political  and  social  structure  that  has  been 
demolished — the  new  and  grander  edifice  that  has 
been  erected — the  enemies  that  have  been  vanquished 
— the  prejudices  that  have  been  uprooted — the  educa 
tion  that  has  been  sown  broadcast,  the  ignorance  that 
has  been  removed — the  industry  that  has  been  trained 
and  fostered — we  can  not  pause  to  criticise  defects, 
for  we  are  amazed  at  the  progress  of  so  great  a  revo 
lution  within  the  brief  space  of  twenty-five  years. 
Those  who  have  never  lived  in  a  slave  country  little 
know  how  the  institution  entwines  itself  round  the 
vitals  of  society  and  poisons  the  sources  of  political 
life.  The  physical  condition  of  the  slave  is  lost  in  the 
contemplation  of  a  more  overwhelming  argument. 
Looking  at  the  question  from  a  high  national  stand 
point,  it  is,  comparatively  speaking,  a  matter  of  tem 
porary  interest  and  minor  importance  whether  the 
bondsman  is  treated  with  kindness  and  humanity,  as 
in  America,  or  with  short-sighted  brutality,  as  in 
Cuba.  It  is  the  influence  of  the  system  upon  the  en 
ergies  and  the  morality  of  a  people  that  demands  the 
calmest  and  most  earnest  consideration  of  patriots  and 
statesmen.  The  present  is,  perhaps,  not  so  much  to 
be  condemned  as  the  future,  from  which  all  eyes  are 
studiously  averted,  is  to  be  dreaded.  An  act  of  the 
British  Parliament,  and  a  vote  of  twenty  millions 
sterling,  were  sufficient  to  release  800,000  slaves ;  but 
no  act  of  the  British  Parliament  could  thus  summarily 
remove  the  curse  that  slavery  had  bequeathed  to  these 
islands,  and  had  left  to  fester  in  their  heart's  core. 
Time  only  could  do  that ;  time  has  not  done  it  yet. 

I  have  endeavored  to  show — and  I  hope  success 
fully — that  the  experiment  of  free  labor  in  the  West 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  317 

Indies  has  established  its  superior  economy,  as  well  as 
its  possibility.  Not  a  single  island  fails  to  demon 
strate  that  the  Creoles  of  African  descent,  in  all  their 
avocations  and  in  all  their  pursuits,  work,  under  a  free 
system,  for  proper  remuneration,  though  their  labor  is 
often  ignorantly  wasted  and  misdirected.  That  arises 
from  want  of  education,  want  of  training,  want  of  good 
example.  I  have  not  sought  to  justify  the  maudlin 
sympathy  that  the  mere  mention  of  these  people 
seems  to  excite  in  certain  quarters,  nor  have  I  advo 
cated  their  interests  to  the  detriment  of  any  other  in 
terest  whatever.  I  have  simply  maintained,  from  ev 
idence  before  me,  that  the  right  of  one  class  to  enjoy 
the  wages  and  fruits  of  their  labor,  does  not  and  can 
not  injuriously  affect  the  rights  of  any  other  class,  or 
damage,  as  some  foolishly  pretend,  a  country's  pros 
perity.  An  ethnological  issue,  quite  foreign  to  the 
subject,  has  been  dragged  into  the  argument.  No  one 
can  deny  that,  up  to  the  present  time,  the  African,  in 
intelligence,  in  industry,  and  in  force  of  character,  has 
been,  and  still  is,  tho  inferior  of  the  European ;  but  it 
is  a  tremendous  mistake  to  suppose  that  his  intelli 
gence  can  ever  be  quickened,  his  industry  sharpened, 
or  his  character  strengthened  under  slavery ;  and  it  is 
worse  than  a  mistake  to  consign  him  to  slavery  for  de 
fects  that  slavery  itself  engendered,  or  to  condemn 
him  because  the  cardinal  virtues  of  civilization  did  not 
spring  into  life  upon  the  instant  that  the  heel  of  op 
pression  was  removed.  With  the  destiny  of  the  West 
Indies  the  welfare  of  these  people  is  inseparably  bound 
up,  and  it  is  as  wrong  to  overlook  their  faults  as  to 
deny  that  they  have  progressed  under  freedom,  or  to 
doubt  that,  by  the  spread  of  education  and  under  the 


318      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

dominion  of  an  enlightened  government,  they  will  be 
come  still  more  elevated  in  the  scale  of  civilization. 
Those  who  are  not  afraid  of  the  confession  will  admit 
that  the  West  Indian  Creole  has  made  a  good  fight. 
The  act  of  emancipation  virtually  did  no  more  than 
place  liberty  within  his  reach.  Actual  independence 
he  had  to  achieve  for  himself.  All  untutored  and  un 
disciplined  as  he  was,  he  had  to  contend  against  social 
prejudice,  political  power,  and  a  gigantic  interest,  be 
fore  he  could  enjoy  the  boon  that  the  act  nominally 
conferred  upon  him.  The  planter  was  bred  to  the  be 
lief  that  his  business  could  only  be  conducted  with 
serf  labor,  and  he  clung  to  the  fallacy  long  after  serf 
labor  had  been  legally  abolished.  Witness  the  land 
tenure  which  still  exists  in  a  mitigated  form  through 
out  all  the  West  Indies,  and  requires  the  tenant,  on 
peril  of  summary  ejection,  to  give  his  services  exclu 
sively  to  his  landlord.  The  instinct  of  self-interest — 
the  faintest  desire  for  independence — would  prompt 
any  one  to  reject  such  a  bondage.  Yet  this  rejection 
is  the  sole  accusation  brought  against  the  negro — this 
the  only  ground  upon  which  he  has  been  condemned. 
I  have  endeavored  to  point  out  the  two  paths  that  lay 
open  to  the  West  Indian  Creole  after  the  abolition  of 
slavery.  The  one  was  to  remain  an  estate  serf  and 
make  sugar  for  the  planter ;  the  other  was  to  rent  or 
purchase  land,  and  work  for  estates,  if  he  pleased,  but 
be  socially  independent  of  a  master's  control.  I  en 
deavored  to  follow  these  two  classes  of  people  in  the 
paths  they  pursued — the  majority,  who  have  become 
independent,  and  the  minority,  who  have  remained  es 
tate  laborers — and  I  have  shown  that  the  condition  of 
the  former  is  infinitely  above  the  condition  of  the  lat- 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  319 

ter.  Is  this  any  where  denied  ?  Can  any  one  say  that 
it  was  not  the  lawful  right  of  these  people  thus  to 
seek,  and,  having  found,  to  cherish  their  independ 
ence  ?  Can  any  one  say  that,  by  doing  so,  they  wrong 
ed  themselves,  the  planters,  or  the  government  under 
which  they  lived  ?  Can  any  one  say  that  they  are  to 
blame  if,  by  their  successful  attempts  to  elevate  them 
selves  above  the  necessitous  and  precarious  career  of 
labor  for  daily  hire,  the  agricultural  field  force  was 
weakened,  and  the  production  of  sugar  diminished  ? 
Yet  this  is  the  fairest  case  that  can  be  made  out  for 
the  oligarchies  of  these  West  India  islands.  They 
have  denounced  the  negro  for  his  defective  industry ; 
but  what,  we  may  ask,  have  they  themselves  done — in 
what  have  they  given  proof  of  their  nobler  civilization 
and  higher  intelligence?  Surely  a  most  important 
duty  devolved  upon  them.  They  were  the  privileged 
aristocracy,  the  landed  proprietors,  the  capitalists,  the 
rulers  of  the  colonies — as  they  still  are.  Their  polit 
ical  power  was  supreme;  yet  what  have  they  done, 
not  for  the  permanent  prosperity  of  the  islands — for 
the  question  need  not  be  asked — but  in  behalf  of  their 
own  special  interests  ?  They  arraigned  the  negro  for 
deserting  their  estates  and' ruining  their  fortunes,  when 
they  themselves  were  absentees,  and  were  paying  the 
legitimate  profits  of  their  business  to  agents  and  over 
seers.  They  offered  the  independent  peasant  no  pe 
cuniary  inducement,  or  its  equivalent,  to  prefer  their 
service ;  but  they  attempted  to  obtain  his  work  for  less 
remuneration  than  he  could  earn  in  any  other  employ 
ment.  They  never  cared  for  the  comfort  or  happi 
ness  of  their  tenants,  or  sought  to  inspire  them  with 
confidence  and  contentment.  They  made  no  effort  to 


320      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

elevate  labor  above  the  degraded  level  at  which  slav 
ery  left  it,  and  they  never  set  an  example  to  their  infe 
riors  of  the  industry  that  is  still  needed  in  the  higher 
as  well  as  in  the  lower  classes  of  West  Indian  society. 
Enterprise  never  prompted  them  to  encourage  the  in 
troduction  of  labor-saving  arts.  Yet  these  were  meas 
ures  that  demanded  the  action  of  an  enlightened  Leg 
islature  and  the  consideration  of  an  influential  propri 
etary  long  before  scarcity  of  labor  became  a  subject 
of  complaint.  Instead  of  averting  the  evil  they  dread 
ed,  they  hastened  its  consummation,  and  injured  their 
cause  still  more  deeply  by  the  false  and  evasive  plea 
that  the  idleness  of  the  Creole  was  .the  cause  of  a  com 
mercial  and  agricultural  depression  that  they  had 
brought  entirely  on  themselves.  Is  it  any  argument 
against  the  industry  of  the  laboring  classes  of  Ameri 
ca  that  a  large  proportion  annually  become  proprie 
tors,  and  withdraw  from  service  for  daily  hire?  Yet 
this  is  precisely  what  the  West  India  Creole  has  done ; 
this  is  the  charge  on  which  he  has  been  arraigned — 
this  is  the  crime  for  which  he  has  been  condemned. 

I  do  not  think  it  can  be  doubted  that  a  want  of 
confidence  between  employer  and  employed,  engen 
dered  altogether  by  the  mistaken  policy  of  the  gov 
erning  classes,  contributed  largely  to  the  prolonged 
depression  of  the  West  Indies — a  depression  from 
which  most  of  them,  under  the  advantages  of  free  la 
bor,  have  greatly  recovered  within  the  last  ten  years. 
Many  of  the  old  sources  of  evil  and  complaint  have 
been  abolished ;  some  still  live.  Absenteeism  is  prev 
alent,  and  hypothecation,  in  Jamaica  more  especially, 
weighs  heavily  upon  the  agricultural  interest.  But 
the  West  Indian  planter  now  generally  admits  the  su- 


THE  BKITISH  WEST  INDIES.  321 

perior  advantages  of  free  labor,  and  is  careful  to  avoid 
the  grosser  errors  into  which  his  predecessors  fell. 
Landed  property  is  changing  hands,  and  new  men  are 
building  up,  upon  a.  broader  and  sounder  basis  than 
that  of  slavery,  the  most  important  interest  of  these 
islands.  The  storm  of  a  great  adversity  has  passed 
over.  There  is  no  longer  a  struggle  to  wring  from  an 
unwilling  plantocracy  an  admission  in  favor  of  free 
dom.  That  belongs  to  the  history  of  the  battle  of  in 
dependence,  which,  in  these  colonies,  was  nobly  fought 
and  triumphantly  won ;  and  if  I  have  recalled  the 
contest  to  mind,  it  was  not  to  revive  old  grievances, 
but  to  illustrate  truth,  and  vindicate  the  policy  of  free 
dom.  The  mode  by  which  those  colonies  that  need 
labor  are  to  be  supplied  with  an  intelligent  and  indus 
trious  population  is  the  practical  question  of  the  day. 
It  certainly  would  neither  be  wise  nor  just  to  oppose, 
by  legislation  or  otherwise,  the  abstraction  of  labor 
from  estates  so  rapidly  going  on.  Nothing  could  be 
adduced  to  illustrate  more  forcibly  the  progress  of  the 
people.  The  abstraction  did  not  commence  until  some 
years  after  emancipation — until  those  who  had  been 
able  to  save  money  began  to  purchase  land  and  culti 
vate  for  themselves.  This  is  the  great  West  Indian 
problem.  It  has  been  so  complicated  and  distorted 
that  its  most  familiar  acquaintances  scarcely  know 
what  to  believe ;  but,  divested  of  such  foreign  incum- 
brances  as  "  defects  of  African  character,"  and  other 
similar  stuff  and  nonsense,  it  is  simply  a  land  ques 
tion,  with  which  race  and  color  have  nothing  what 
ever  to  do.  The  same  process  goes  on  in  the  United 
States,  in  Canada,  in  Australia,  and  in  all  new  coun 
tries  where  land  is  cheap  and  plentiful  and  the  popu- 
02 


322      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

lation  sparse.  The  laborer  soon  becomes  a  proprie 
tor  ;  the  ranks  of  the  laboring  force  are  rapidly  thin 
ned;  and  the  capitalist  is  compelled  to  pay  high,  it 
may  be  extravagant  wages.  In  the  West  Indies  the 
capitalist  refuses  to  pay  high  wages ;  he  thinks  that 
the  control  of  the  labor  market  is  one  of  his  rights. 
He  imagines,  and  upon  what  ground  I  can  not  compre 
hend,  that  farming  in  these  colonies  should  yield  much 
larger  profits  than  farming  any  where  else.  He  calls  it 
"  planting,"  and  fancies  that  there  ought  to  be  a  wide 
social  distinction  between  the  man  who  grows  cane  or 
cotton  and  the  man  who  grows  potatoes  and  parsnips. 
God  save  the  mark!  Does  any  one  dream  that  if 
West  India  planters  stuck  to  their  business  like  En 
glish  farmers,  and  possessed  one  half  of  their  practical 
ability  and  industry,  the  agricultural  and  commercial 
interests  of  the  islands  would  have  ever  suffered  from 
emancipation?  The  profits  of  sugar-cultivation,  ac 
cording  to  the  planter's  creed,  must  be  large  enough 
to  yield  the  proprietor,  though  an  absentee,  a  comfort 
able  income,  and  pay  large  salaries  besides  to  overseers 
and  attorneys;  otherwise  estates  are  abandoned,  and 
the  sugar  interest  is  "ruined."  These  expectations 
might  have  been  realized  in  the  days  of  the  old  mo 
nopoly;  they  certainly  are  not  realized  now,  and 
never  can  be  realized  again,  unless  the  British  people 
recede  from  their  principles  of  free  trade  and  free  la 
bor.  If  labor  in  the  West  Indies  is  high — so  high 
that  sometimes  the  planter  can  not  afford  to  pay  the 
price  demanded — he  is  not  worse  off  than  the  capital 
ist  in  all  new  countries.  His  attempt  to  keep  the 
people  day  laborers,  and  to  check  the  development  of 
a  natural  law,  is  foolish  and  wicked.  There  is  but 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  323 

one  remedy  for  this  abstraction  from  estate-labor,  and 
that  remedy  is  immigration.  It  must  be  a  constant 
immigration  as  long  as  land  is  cheap  and  plentiful,  for 
the  immigrants  themselves — and  notoriously  the  Port 
uguese,  whose  industry  was  once  the  theme  of  the 
planter's  praise  and  exultation — forsake  the  laboring 
ranks,  and  become  proprietors  and  tradesmen  as  soon 
as  they  are  released  from  their  contracts  of  service. 
It  must  be  a  colonizing  immigration,  or  permanent 
prosperity  can  never  be  reaped.  It  must  be  a  free 
immigration,  violating  in  no  points  of  theory  and  in 
no  details  of  practice  the  grant  of  liberty  conferred 
by  the  Act  of  Emancipation  upon  these  islands  and 
their  populations  forever.  This  immigration  has  been 
placed  within  the  reach  of  all  the  colonies  that  re 
quired  it,  though  the  jealous  fears  of  the  British  peo 
ple  have  prompted  them  to  withhold  from  the  local 
governments  its  entire  direction  and  control.  By  this 
immigration  the  planters  of  Trinidad  and  Guiana  have 
greatly  profited,  while  the  planters  of  Jamaica,  excep 
tional  again,  with  languishing  energies  and  paralyzed 
enterprise,  have  derived  no  more  benefit  from  the  la 
bor  they  imported  than  from  the  Creole  labor  they 
profess  to  have  lost,  but  which,  in  reality,  they  reck 
lessly  squandered. 

Truth,  we  are  told,  will  prevail,  and  freedom,  we 
know,  is  truth.  Howsoever  people  may  differ  on 
questions  of  political  liberty,  into  which  inequalities 
of  birth,  race,  position,  and  intelligence  are  permitted 
to  enter,  modern  civilization  has  recognized  and  rati 
fied  the  inalienable  right  of  men  to  the  wages  of  their 
industry,  to  the  happiness  they  have  toiled  for,  and  to 
the  independence  they  have  earned.  Here  is  the  true 


324      THE  ORDEAL  OF  FREE  LABOR  IN 

field  of  equality,  where  rank,  or  race,  or  intellect  has 
no  chartered  precedence.  From  the  day  when  this 
great  principle  was  admitted  throughout  the  British 
West  Indies  their  true  prosperity  may  be  dated.  For 
freedom  knows  no  favoritism;  her  honors  are  not 
crowded  upon  a  privileged  class,  her  aid  is  not  limited 
to  a  particular  interest.  The  act  of  British  emancipa 
tion  has  been  widely  abused  ;  but  its  detractors  must 
live  among  the  people  it  disenthralled  if  they  would 
learn  the  value  at  which  it  can  be  estimated.  Time, 
which  develops  the  freedom  that  act  created,  adds  con 
tinually  to  its  lustre;  and  long  after  England's  highest 
achievements  in  arts  or  in  arms  shall  have  been  for 
gotten,  this  grant  of  liberty  shall  testify  to  the  grand 
eur  of  her  power  and  to  the  magnanimity  of  her  peo 
ple.  I  have  not  assumed,  in  aught  I  have  written, 
that  the  West  Indian  Creole  is  yet  capable  of  self-gov 
ernment.  I  have  simply  endeavored  to  show  that, 
under  freedom,  sources  of  industry  and  prosperity 
have  been  opened  that,  under  slavery,  would  have  re 
mained  closed  forever.  I  have  endeavored  to  show 
that,  for  the  West  Indies,  freedom  has  been  the  best 
policy,  though  the  moralist  may  condemn  an  argu 
ment  that  sets  forth  another  motive  for  doing  right 
than  the  sake  of  right  itself.  If  emancipation  did  no 
more  than  relieve  the  West  Indian  slave  from  the  su 
pervision  of  a  task-master  I  should  have  nothing  left 
to  say ;  for  I  admitted,  at  the  outset,  that  the  condi 
tion  of  the  laboring  classes  was  but  one  among  many 
interests  whose  ruin,  if  personal  liberty  could  ruin 
them,  would  make  us  disbelieve  in  truth  itself.  But 
freedom,  when  allowed  fair  play,  injured  the  prosper 
ity  of  none  of  these  West  Indian  colonies.  It  saved 


THE  BRITISH  WEST  INDIES.  325 

them  from  a  far  deeper  and  more  lasting  depression 
than  any  they  have  yet  known.  It  was  a  boon  con 
ferred  upon  all  classes  of  society :  upon  planter  and 
upon  laborer ;  upon  all  interests :  upon  commerce 
and  agriculture — upon  industry  and  education — upon 
morality  and  religion.  And  if  a  perfect  measure  of 
success  remains  to  be  achieved,  let  not  freedom  be  con 
demned;  for  the  obstacles  to  overcome  were  great, 
and  the  workers  were  few  and  unwilling.  Let  it  be 
remembered  that  a  generation,  born  in  the  night  of 
slavery,  has  not  yet  passed  away,  and  that  men  who 
were  taught  to  believe  in  that  idol  and  its  creations 
still  control  the  destinies  of  these  distant  colonies. 
Eeluctantly  they  learnt  the  lesson  forced  upon  them; 
slowly  their  opposition  yielded  to  the  dawning  of  con 
viction  ;  but,  now  that  the  meridian  of  truth  has  been 
reached,  we  may  hope  that  light  will  dispel  all  the 
shadows  of  slavery,  and  confound  the  logic  of  its 
champions  when  they  falsely  assert  that  emancipation 
has  ruined  the  British  islands. 


THE  END. 


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HISTORY 

OF   THE 

UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

BY  RICHARD  HILDRETH. 


FIRST  SERIES. — From  the  First  Settlement  of  the  Country  to  the 
Adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution.  3  vols.  8vo,  Muslin, 
$6  00 ;  Sheep,  $6  75 ;  Half  Calf,  $7  50. 

SECOND  SERIES.— From  the  Adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution 
to  the  End  of  the  Sixteenth  Congress.  3  vols.  8vo,  Muslin, 
$6  00;  Sheep,  $6  75;  Half  Calf,  $7  50. 


The  first  attempt  at  a  complete  history  of  the  United  States.  The  reader  who 
desires  to  inform  himself  in  all  the  particulars,  military  or  political,  of  the 
American  Revolution,  will  tind  that  they  have  been  scrupulously  collected  for 
him  by  Mr.  Hildreth. — London  Athenaeum. 

It  has  condensed  into  consecutive  narrative  the  substance  of  hundreds  of 
volumes. — London  Literary  Gazette. 

The  history  of  the  Revolution  is  clearly  and  succinctly  told. — N.  A.  Review. 

Mr.  Hildreth's  sources  of  information  have  evidently  been  ample  and  various, 
and  intelligently  examined,  his  materials  arranged  with  a  just  idea  of  their  im 
portance  in  the  story,  while  his  judgments  are  well  considered,  unbiassed  and 
reliable.  His  style  is  clear,  forcible,  and  sententious.— Christian  Register. 

Mr.  Hildreth  is  a  very  concise,  vigorous,  and  impartial  writer.  His  entire 
history  is  very  accurate  and  interesting,  and  well  worthy  a  place  in  every  Amer 
ican  library.— Louisville  Journal. 

He  is  laborious,  conscientious,  and  accurate.  As  a  methodical  and  very  full 
narrative,  its  value  is  undoubted. — New  Orleans  Bee. 

The  calmness  and  ability  with  which  he  has  presented  his  narrative  will  give 
his  work  rank  among  the  standard  histories  of  the  country.— Watchman  and 

(JOSWVCT. 

*  «  We  have,  therefore,  read  his  hook  with  distrust  But  we  are  bound  in 
candor  to  say  that  it  seems  to  ys  valuable  and  very  fair.  Mr.  Hildreth  has  con- 
hned  hvmself  to,  as  far  as  possible,  a  dispassionate  collection  of  facts  from  the 
documents  he  has  consulted  and  copied,  and  his  work  fills  a  void  that  has  sensi 
bly  been  felt  in  private  libraries.  As  a  documentary  history  of  the  United 
States,  we  are  free  to  commend  it.— A'.  Y.  Freeman's  Journal. 

Mr.  Hildreth  has  rendered  an  essential  and  permanent  service.—  Providence 
Daily  Journal. 

The  volumes  will  be  regarded  as  indispensable— it  will  take  its  place  as  a 
standard  work.  The  author's  style  is  dignified,  perspicuous,  and  vivacious.— 
C/iurc/i  fteview. 

The  work  is  very  complete.  The  marginal  dates,  the  two  indexes  and  run 
ning  heads  at  the  tops  of  the  pages,  render  it  very  convenient  for  reference, 
points  which  scholars  will  find  all  important  for  utility.—  A'ewar k  Sentinel  of 
freedom. 


HILDRETH'S  HISTORY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

Written  with  candor,  brevity,  fidelity  to  facts,  and  simplicity  of  style  and  man 
ner,  and  forms  a  welcome  addition  to  the  library  of  the  nation. — Prot.  Churchman. 

Mr.  Hildreth  is  a  bold  and  copious  writer.  His  work  is  valuable  for  the  im 
mense  amount  of  material  it  embodies. — JJe  Bow's  Review  of  the  Southern  and 
Western  States. 

\Ve  may  safely  commend  Mr.  Hildreth' s  work  as  written  in  an  excellent  style, 
and  containing  a  vast  amount  of  valuable  information. — Albany  Argus. 

His  style  is  vigorously  simple.  It  has  the  virtue  of  perspicuity Zioris 

Herald. 

We  value  it  on  account  of  its  impartiality.  We  have  found  nothing  to  indi 
cate  the  least  desire  on  the  part  of  the  author  to  exalt  or  debase  any  man  or  any 
party.  His  very  patriotism,  though  high-principled  and  sincere,  is  sober  and 
discriminate,  and  appears  to  be  held  in  strong  check  by  the  controlling  recollec 
tion  that  he  is  writing  for  posterity,  and  that  if  the  facts  which  he  publishes 
will  not  honor  his  country  and  his  countrymen,  fulsome  adulation  will  not  add 
to  their  glory. — N.  Y.  Commercial  Advertiser. 

We  are  confident  that  when  the  merits  of  this  history  come  to  be  known  and 
appreciated,  it  will  be  extensively  regarded  as  decidedly  superior  to  any  thing 
that  before  existed  on  American  history,  and  as  a  valuable  contribution  to 
American  authorship.  These  stately  volumes  will  be  an  ornament  to  any  libra 
ry,  and  no  intelligent  American  can  afford  to  be  without  the  work.  We  have 
nobly  patronized  the  great  English  history  of  the  age,  let  us  not  fail  to  appre 
ciate  and  patronize  an  American  history  so  respectable  and  valuable  as  this  cer 
tainly  is. — Biblical  Repository  (Bibliotheca  Sacra). 

This  work  professes  only  to  deal  in  facts;  it  is  a  book  of  records;  it  puts  to 
gether  clearly,  consecutively,  and,  we  believe,  with  strict  impartiality,  the  events 
of  American  history.  The  work  indicates  patient,  honest,  and  careful  research, 
systematic  arrangement,  and  lucid  exposition. — Home  Journal. 

To  exhibit  the  progress  of  the  country  from  infancy  to  maturity;  to  show 
the  actual  state  of  the  people,  the  real  character  of  their  laws  and  institutions, 
and  the  true  designs  of  their  leading  men,  at  different  periods,  and  to  relate  a 
sound,  unvarnished  tale  of  our  early  history,  has  been  his  design ;  and  we  are 
free  to  acknowledge  that  it  has  been  executed  with  marked  ability  and  triumph 
ant  success.  Every  lover  of  impartial  history  will  accord  to  Mr.  Hildreth  his 
due  meed  of  praise  for  the  able  and  honest  manner  in  which  he  has  given  the 
true  history  of  the  United  Si&tes.—Fcnnsylvanian. 

This  work  is  full  of  detail,  bears  marks  of  care  and  research,  and  is  written 
under  the  guidance  of  clear  sight  and  good  judgment  rather  than  of  theory, 
philosophical  or  historical,  or  of  prejudice  of  any  sort  whatever.  We  trust  that 
it  will  be  widely  read.— A".  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer. 

We  pronounce  it  unsurpassed  as  a  full,  clear,  and  truthful  history  of  our 
country  so  far.  We  rejoice  that  a  work  so  important  to  our  nation  has  been  so 
ably  performed. — Literary  American. 

Interesting,  valuable,  and  very  attractive.  It  is  written  in  a  style  eminently 
clear  and  attractive,  and  presents  the  remarkable  history  which  it  records  in  a 
form  of  great  simplicity  and  with  graphic  force.  There  is  in  it  no  attempt  to 
palliate  what  is  wrong,  or  to  conceal  what  is  true.  It  is  a  life-like  and  reliable 
history  of  the  most  remarkable  series  of  events  in  the  annals  of  the  world.—  N. 
Y.  Journal  of  Commerce. 

It  is  a  valuable  acquisition  to  American  literature.— Balti more  American. 

The  history  of  our  country  with  a  scrupulous  regard  to  truth.—  Buffalo  Courier. 

We  believe  this  to  be  a  truthful,  judicious,  and  valuable  history,  worthy  of 
general  acceptation.— Philadelphia  Xorth  American. 

The  first,  complete  history  of  our  country. — Chronotype. 

Published  ly  HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 

Franklin  Square,  New  York. 


»  »*  HAEPF.B  &  BUOTHEKS  will  send  the  above  Work  by  Mail,  postage  paid  (for 
any  distance  in  the  United  States  under  3000  miles),  on  receipt  of  the  Money. 


They  do  honor  to  American  Literature,  and  would  do 
honor  to  the  Literature  of  any  Country  in  the  World." 


THE   RISE   OF 
THE    DUTCH    REPUBLIC. 


BY  JOHN  LOTHEOP  MOTLEY. 

New  Edition.  With  a  Portrait  of  WILLIAM  OF  ORANGE.  3  vols. 
8vo,  Muslin,  $6  00  ;  Sheep,  $6  75  ;  Half  Calf  antique,  $9  00  ; 
Half  Calf,  extra  gilt,  $10  50. 

We  regard  this  work  as  the  best  contribution  to  modern  history  that  has  yet 
been  made  by  au  American.  —  Methodist  Quarterly  Revieiv. 

The  "History  of  the  Dutch  Republic"  is  a  great  gift  to  us;  but  the  heart  and 
earnestness  that  beat  through  all  its  pages  are  greater,  for  they  give  us  most 
timely  inspiration  to  vindicate  the  true  ideas  of  our  country,  and  to  compose  an 
able  history  of  our  own.  —  Christian  Examiner  (Boston). 

This  work  bears  on  its  face  the  evidences  of  scholarship  and  research.  The 
arrangement  is  clear  and  effective  ;  the  style  energetic,  lively,  and  often  brilliant. 
*  *  *  Mr.  Motley's  instructive  volumes  will,  we  trust,  have  a  circulation  cominen- 
surnfe  with  their  interest  and  value.  —  Protestant  Episcopal  Quarterly  Review. 

To  tue  illustration  of  this  most  interesting  period  Mr.  Motley  has  brought  tho 
matured  powers  of  a  vigorous  and  brilliant  mind,  and  the  abundant  fruits  of  pa 
tient  and  judicious  study  and  deep  reflection.  The  lesult  is,  one  of  the  most 
important  contributions  to  historical  literature  that  have  been  made  in  this  coun 
try.  —  North  A  merican  Review. 

We  would  conclude  this  notice  by  earnestly  recommending  our  readers  to  pro 
cure  for  themselves  this  truly  great  and  admirable  work,  by  the  production  of 
which  the  auther  has  conferred  no  less  honor  upon  his  country  than  he  has  won 
praise  and  fame  for  himself,  and  than  which,  we  can  assure  them,  they  can  find 
nothing  more  attractive  or  mteresting  within  the  compass  of  modern  iiterature. 
—  Evangelical  Review. 

It  is  not  often  that  we  have  the  pleasure  of  commending  to  the  attention  of  the 
lover  of  bo  .ks  a  work  of  such  extraordinary  aud  unexceptionable  excellence  a-s 
this  one.  —  Universalist  Quarterly  Review. 

There  are  an  elevation  and  a  classic  polish  in  these  volumes,  and  a  felicity  of 
grouping  and  of  portraiture,  which  invest  the  subject  with  the  attractions  of  a 
living  and  stirring  episode  in  the  grand  historic  drama.—  Southern  Methodist 
Quarterly  Review. 

The  author  writes  with  a  genial  glow  and  love  of  his  subject.—  Presbyterian 
Quarterly  Review, 

Mr.  Motley  is  a  sturdy  Republican  and  a  hearty  Protestant  His  style  is  live 
ly  and  picturesque,  and  his  work  is  an  honor  and  an  important  accession  to  our 
national  literature.—  Church  Review. 

Mr.  Motley's  work  is  an  important  one,  the  result  of  profound  research,  sincere 
convictions,  sound  principles,  and  manly  sentiments;  and  even  those  who  are 
most  familiar  with  the  history  of  the  period  will  find  in  it  a  fresh  and  vivid  ad 
dition  to  their  previous  knowledge.  It  does  honor  to  American  literature,  and 
would  do  honor  to  the  literature  of  any  country  in  the  world.—  Edinburgh  Re- 

A  serious  chasm  in  English  historical  literature  has  been  (by  this  book)  very 
remarkably  filled.  *  *  *  A  history  as  complete  as  industry  and  genius  can  make 
it  now  lies  before  us,  of  the  first  twenty  years  of  the  revolt  of  the  United  Prov. 
inces.  •  »  «  All  the  essentials  of  a  great  writer  Mr.  Motley  eminently  possesses. 
His  mind  is  broad,  his  industry  unwearied.  In  power  of  dramatic  description 
no  modem  historian,  except,  perhaps,  Mr.  Carlyle,  surpasses  him,  and  in  analy 
sis  of  character  he  is  elaborate  and  distinct.  —  Westminster  Review. 


2    MOTLEY'S  RISE  OF  THE  DUTCH  REPUBLIC. 

It  ia  a  work  of  real  historical  value,  the  result  of  accurate  criticism,  written 
in  a  liberal  spirit,  and  from  first  to  last  deeply  interesting. — Athenceum. 

The  style  is  excellent,  clear,  vivid,  eloquent;  and  the  industry  with  which 
original  sources  have  been  investigated,  and  through  which  new  light  has  been 
shed  over  perplexed  incidents  and  characters,  entitles  Mr.  Motley  to  a  high  rank 
in  the  literature  of  an  age  peculiarly  rich  in  history. — North  British  Review. 

It  abounds  in  new  information,  and,  as  a  first  work,  commands  a  very  cordial 
recognition,  not  merely  of  the  promise  it  gives,  but  of  the  extent  and  importance 
of  the  labor  actually  performed  on  it. — London  Examiner. 

Mr.  Motley's  "History"  is  a  work  of  which  any  country  might  be  proud.— 
Press  (London). 

Mr.  Motley's  History  will  be  a  standard  book  of  reference  in  historical  litera 
ture. — London  Literary  Gazette. 

Mr.  Motley  has  searched  the  whole  range  of  historical  documents  necessary  to 
the  composition  of  his  work. — London  Leader. 

This  is  really  a  great  work.  It  belongs  to  the  class  of  books  in  which  we 
rjtnge  our  Grotes,  Milmans,  Merivales,  and  Macaulays,  as  the  glories  of  English 
literature  in  the  department  of  history.  *  *  *  Mr.  Motley's  gifts  as  a  historical 
writer  are  among  the  highest  and  rarest. — Nonconformist  (London). 

Mr.  Motley's  volumes  will  well  repay  perusal.  *  *  *  For  his  learning,  his  liberal 
tone,  and  his  generous  enthusiasm,  we  heartily  commend  him,  and  bid  him  good 
speed  for  the  remainer  of  his  interesting  and  heroic  narrative. — Saturday  Review. 

The  story  is  a  noble  one,  and  is  worthily  treated.  *  *  *  Mr.  Motley  has  had  the 
patience  to  unravel,  with  unfailing  perseverance,  the  thousand  intricate  plots  of 
the  adversaries  of  the  Prince  of  Orange ;  but  the  details  and  the  literal  extracts 
which  he  has  derived  from  original  documents,  and  transferred  to  his  pages, 
give  a  truthful  color  and  a  picturesque  eifect,  which  are  especially  charming. — 
London  Daily  News. 

M.  Lothrop  Motley  dans  son  magnifique  tableau  de  la  formation  de  notre  R6- 
publique. — G.  GKOEN  VAN  PKINSTEEEB. 

Our  accomplished  countryman,  Mr.  J.  Lothrop  Motley,  who,  during  the  last 
five  years,  for  the  better  prosecution  of  his  labors,  has  established  his  residence 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  scenes  of  his  narrative.  No  one  acquainted  with  the 
fine  powers  of  mind  possessed  by  this  scholar,  and  the  earnestness  with  which  he 
has  devoted  himself  to  the  task,  can  doubt  that  he  will  do  full  justice  to  his  im 
portant  but  difficult  subject.— W.  H.  PRESCOIT. 

The  production  of  such  a  work  as  this  astonishes,  while  it  gratifies  the  pride 
of  the  American  reader. — N.  Y.  Observer. 

The  "Rise  of  the  Dutch  Republic"  at  once,  and  by  acclamation,  takes  its 
place  by  the  "  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"  as  a  work  which,  wheth 
er  for  research,  substance,  or  style,  will  never  be  superseded. — N.  Y.  Albion. 

A  work  upon  which  all  -who  read  the  English  language  may  congratulate 
themselves. — New  Yorker  Handels  Zeitung. 

Mr.  Motley's  place  is  now  (alluding  to  this  book)  with  Hallam  and  Lord  Ma- 
hon,  Alison  and  Macaulay  in  the  Old  Country,  and  with  Washington  Irving, 
Prescott,  and  Bancroft  in  this. — N.  Y.  Times. 

THE  authority,  in  the  English  tongue,  for  the  history  of  the  period  and  people 
to  which  it  refers. — N.  Y.  Courier  and  Enquirer. 

This  work  at  once  places  the  author  on  the  list  of  American  historians  which 
has  been  so  signally  illustrated  by  the  names  of  Irving,  Prescott,  Bancroft,  and 
Hildreth. — Boston  Times. 

The  work  is  a  noble  one,  and  a  most  desirable  acquisition  to  our  historical  lit 
erature. — Mobile  Advertiser. 

Such  a  work  is  an  honor  to  its  author,  to  his  country,  and  to  the  age  in  which 
it  was  written.— Ohio  Farmer. 

Published  by  HARPER  &  BROTHERS, 

Franklin  Square,  New  York. 


HABPEK  &  BBOTHERS  will  send  the  above  Work  by  Mail  (postage  paid  (for  any 
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THE 

LAND  AND  THE  BOOK; 

OB, 

BIBLICAL  ILLUSTRATIONS  DRAWN  FROM  THE  MANNERS 

AND  CUSTOMS,  THE  SCENES  AND  SCENERY  OF 

THE  HOLY  LAND. 

BY  W.  M.  THOMSON,  D.D., 

Twenty-five  Years  a  Missionary  of  the  A.B.C.F.M.  in  Syria  and  Palestine. 

With  two  elaborate  Maps  of  Palestine,  an  accurate  Plan  of  Jeru 
salem,  and  several  hundred  Engravings  representing  the  Scenery, 
Topography,  and  Productions  of  the  Holy  Land,  and  the  Cos 
tumes,  Manners,  and  Habits  of  the  People.  Two  elegant  Large 
12mo  Volumes,  Muslin,  $3  50 ;  Half  Calf,  $5  20. 

The  Land  of  the  Bible  is  part  of  the  Divine  Revelation.  It  bears 
testimony  essential  to  faith,  and  gives  lessons  invaluable  in  exposi 
tion.  Both  have  been  written  all  over  the  fair  face  of  Palestine, 
and  deeply  graven  there  by  the  finger  of  God  in  characters  of  living 
light.  To  collect  this  testimony  and  popularize  these  lessons  for 
the  biblical  student  of  every  age  and  class  is  the  prominent  design 
of  this  work.  For  twenty -five  years  the  Author  has  been  permitted 
to  read  the  Book  by  the  light  which  the  Land  sheds  upon  it ;  and 
he  now  hands  over  this  friendly  torch  to  those  who  have  not  been 
thus  favored.  In  this  attempt  the  pencil  has  been  employed  to  aid 
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